As it is in Heaven
by HeronsStorm
Summary: -One thing I don't get though, is why Mrs. Reigns paired me, with him. Could she have known something I didn't?- Ratings may change through story for language and... other, reasons. Minor SB/HR slash, Full summery inside. Real life.
1. Prologue

**_+Interruption+_**

I very much felt like starting a Homestar Runner fan-fiction, even though I'm already juggling my Zelda one with all my homework. This was a spur of the moment typing of a plot that's been going through my head for two weeks without shutting up. So, I figured writing it would get it to be quiet. It's just gotten louder. I really enjoyed writing just this prolouge, and I would appreciate if anyone could correct me on punctuation or spelling, I get kinda slow sometimes. I hope at least one person can enjoy this, and I would really appreciate reviews.

Warning- Potty mouth language (deftinitly more later on) and mild slash that might get worse as the story goes on. If your worried about the slash thing, I will leave warnings in the Interruptions when something might happen, whether a small hug, kiss, or something I shouldn't say around kiddies. **UPDATE: On second thought, scratch that, I'm too lazy to warn you every freaken chapter.** Summary after interruption.

I do not own Homestar Runner, or basically anyone in the story. Except Mrs. Reigns.

**+End Interruption+**

**Summary**

Javier Strong, otherwise known as Strong Bad, is sucked into a vicious cycle of nightmares after being kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer. Struggling to recover, a new friend will help him regain his old self, and maybe something more.

Homestar has always had a nice life, even if his dad had skipped out on him and his mom, and he lost both of his arms in a car accident years ago. Things start changing though for his crush of the past four years, and he has to help set things right before reality spins off its top.

The Cheat lives at the park in the kiddy tunnels. Every day he reads through the newspaper, and every day he looked around town for any sign of a poster asking for people to report his whereabouts to the parents, a desperate hope burning inside of him that he denies. His friends must convince him that he needs to get help, because no matter how long he waits, and how much he prays, his parents will never start to care.

This is as it is in Heaven.

**Prologue**

"_Today, we'll be starting a long-term project."_

I once heard someone say, 'We must embrace the bad times in our life, for it is through these times we learn what truly matters.'

"_I will be assigning you each a partner, and you both will be responsible, so one partner can not do all the work."_

… Or some other crap like that. My time, my 'seriously-considering-suicide' time, started from a computer class assignment.

"_You will be creating a website; you may choose the theme, as long as you check it over with me first. That means _no_ porn sites Mr. Cheet. Every Friday you will present to the class updates and news on the website. You are allowed outside help, as long as they're not doing the work for you."_

Then again, it did start one of _the_ greatest websites on the internet, as far as I'm concerned. Plus, now I'll probably never have to work again. Not that I did before.

"_Hopefully you'll all learn something new. Now, I'm sure you're eager to know your partners, right? Mr. Pomagran, you will be with Ms. Hellen."_

It also started one of the greatest friendships I've ever had, besides The Cheat and I, of course. Maybe even something more.

"_Mr. Cheet, you will be with Ms. Peterson."_

… If you keep making that face, I **will** punch your teeth in.

"_Mr. Panburry, you will be with Ms. Everett."_

One thing I don't get though.

"_Ms. Murrel, you will be with Mr. Turner."_

Is why Mrs. Reigns paired me, with him?

"_Last but not least, Mr. Runner, you will be paired with,"_

Could she have known something I didn't?

"_Mr. Strong."_


	2. Chapter 1

****

Interruption

Hello everyone, I'm back! School's been a bear (when is it not?) and I've been a lion. No new updates so, enjoy the story. Thanks to Amme Moto for beta-reading the story. By the way, anyone who reads this I want them to vote. Where do you think Pom-Pom was born? I believe Germany, but that's just me. Maybe it's because I love Germany.

I do not own Homestar Runner or any of its characters.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 1**

A friend is like a flower,  
a rose to be exact,  
Or maybe like a brand new gate  
that never comes unlatched.  
A friend is like an owl,  
both beautiful and wise.  
Or perhaps a friend is like a ghost,  
whose spirit never dies.  
A friend is like a heart that goes  
strong until the end.

-Emma Guest

The annoying voice prattled from across the table, making him wonder if he could strangle himself with one of the computer cords. "Strong Bad, if you knock yourself out, who's going to help me with the website? I'm not so good with computers."

The masked student hit his head on the desk once more. Student's didn't even bother too look over at the two anymore, choosing instead to channel their energy into a commendable grade. "I don't give a crap that you're too damn clumsy to work a computer." Strong Bad sat up in his seat and rubbed his temple. Stupid headaches. Stupid class. Stupid teachers. Stupid projects. Stupid Homestar. "Why the hell did you sign up for computer class anyway?"

Homestar, his idiotic partner, pouted across the table. "I'm not clumsy." He mumbled, fiddling with his red and blue propeller hat. When he had first joined the school three years ago, the teachers had tried to confiscate it, saying that 'No hats were allowed in school'. The incident turned into a three hour manhunt for the teen, who had run to hide in the basement of the school. Needless to say, he had been allowed to wear his hat since then. Strong Bad had skirted the regulation, pointing out that it never said 'no _masks'_ in the rules.

Strong Bad snorted. "Prove it, just toss your pencil up and catch it. You can't even do that without tripping all over yourself."

"Fine." His jaw rigid in determination, Homestar threw the pencil up about two feet, leaning back in his chair as it sailed behind him. The pencil landed in the extended hand, but his fingers didn't react and tried to grasp it a few seconds too late, and it clattered to the floor. Homestar, who had been leaning too far back, tumbled to the floor as well, much to the amusement of the class.

Mrs. Reigns sighed, helping a blushing Homestar back into his seat. "Are you all right Mr. Runner?" She asked, checking for any injuries.

"Yes Mrs. Reigns." Grinning sheepishly, he picked his pencil up and turned back to the table.

After the teacher walked away, Strong Bad grinned. "I didn't know tomatoes had brown hair, is sum-wun embawwessed?"

Homestar just flushed further and looked at the table, attempting to change the subject with not much subtlety. "What are we going to do our website on?" When Strong Bad opened his mouth to say something he narrowed his eyes. "And we're not making a website to scam people."

Crossing his arms lazily, he rolled his eyes. "She only said we couldn't do porn, and she was talking to The Cheat when she said that." He muttered.

Chewing his lip, Homestar twirled his hat propeller in thought. Two minutes later he broke out into a smile. A very tiny light bulb twinkled inside his head, enough energy for at least one good idea. "I know!"

"No. I hate the idea already."

"Hear me out first!" He pleaded. Not waiting for his reply, he continued. "Entertainment! A website people can go to too laugh." Homestar looked ready to jump out of his pants, and Strong Bad prayed he wouldn't. "You're really good at digital design and drawing and stuff, and I'm only truly good at animations and making games anyway. People could play games, watch cartoons, and send in questions on Emily!" Looking worn out from his rationalization, he collapsed back in his seat with a grin.

"I think you mean E-mail Dorkstar." He corrected dryly. "And really, that idea is," Strong Bad paused and mulled it over with a frown. "… Just crazy enough to actually work! Actually, it's a pretty good idea. Are you sure _you're_ Homestar?"

Homestar only beamed. "So we have the theme, what should we call the website?"

"Isn't it obvious?" At Homestar's dense look, he sighed. "It should be called 'StrongBad .com. Isn't that a great name?"

Thinking, Homestar tilted his head. "Yeah, I guess… But I think 'Homestarrunner .com' would be better."

"Pshh, yeah right."

"Homestarrunner .com"

"StrongBad .com"

Homestarrunner .com""

"StrongBad .com"

"Homest-"

A loud thud came from across the room. "That's IT! I can't take thiz anymore!"

Pascal Pomagran, more formally known as 'Pom-Pom', loomed over them, eyes glowing with irritation.

"Ve are going to zettle thiz az zivil adultz or zo help me I'll find a vay to murder you both." The deep voice, thick with a German accent, carried a very real threat.

Homestar went pale and Strong Bad just muttered about a 'Stupid, German bubble-boy that couldn't mind his own business', luckily too quiet for Pom-Pom to hear.

"I vould hire a lawyer, but that might take too much time." Pom-Pom thought for a moment, a million thoughts running through his head at once. "I know zomething zo zimple even Homeztar vill underztand." Pulling out a quarter, he flipped it through the air and covered the coin when it landed. "Ztrong Bad, what zide did it land on? If you get it vight, ve'll call it '', if you're vrong, ve'll call it ''."

"Tails?"

Pom-Pom lifted his hand and nodded. "Homeztarvunner .com it is then. Now that _that_ iz zettled, pleaze keep it down." Pocketing the quarter, he walked past them back to his own table.

"Wipe that smirk off your face Dorkstar." Strong Bad tapped his pencil against his chin, thinking. "We probably won't be able to work on this that often in class, so we'll need to work together after-school. I need an A if I'm gonna pass this class." He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"I have track after-school, how about we meet at your house tomorrow?"

The bell echoed loudly through Freedom Country High school, and Strong Bad nodded. "I'll give you my address _tomorrow _then; I don't need any unexpected visitors before then."

* * *

"Damn am I lucky, getting paired with Brittney for this project, she is _hot_!" The Cheat looked like he was drooling and Strong Bad slapped him upside the head.

"Snap out of it The Cheat," He glanced out the window as the bus finally started to stir. "You're three foot four and look like your still twelve; I doubt she's looking for a guy like that. Besides that, she likes other _girls_, you're out of luck."

He snarled angrily, fake gold tooth flashing. "I'm seventeen, seventeen! Not twelve. I'm not short either."

Continuing to look out the window, he snickered. "Keep telling yourself that The Cheat, keep telling yourself that." The bus stopped at the red light, next to the field and school track. A familiar blur sped around the track, arms flailing behind him uselessly instead of pumping at his sides like most runners.

A snort came from next to him. "I can't believe Mrs. Reigns made you work with him. I'm surprised you didn't kill him during class."

"The day's still young." Strong Bad muttered, turning from the window. "He's coming to my house to work on the assignment tomorrow. I might kill him then."

Shivers went up his spine when The Cheat smirked. "I know a few way's you can… 'Welcome', him to the Strong Bad household."

"I'm gonna want to video tape this, aren't I?"

"Hell ya."


	3. Chapter 2

**Interruption**

So tired. So very very tired. I don't think I worked hard enough on this chapter, when I read it it seems to move along too fast. I'm such a fickle person. Thanks to Amme Moto for beta-reading!

I do not own Homestar or any of the other characters, oh well.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 2**

We are neither of us without our flaws,  
can you accept mine as I will yours?

-Wendy Hinson

"Done."

Strong Bad pushed back from his computer table and sat on his bed, pretending to read until Homestar came back with the snacks.

Footsteps stopped outside of his door. "Strong Bad, can you get the door? My hands are full." His silence answered his question and Homestar sighed, attempting to hold both mugs with one arm and reaching out with his other. Strong Bad waited for the impending crash of the cups. It never came. Unfortunately.

"I'll get that for you, Homestar." Strong Sad's voice came from the other side of the door, sounding depressed. Then again, when did it not? His brother was a damn pansy. Homestar thanked him and walked in, closing the door with his foot.

Setting Strong Bad's mug on the bedside table, Homestar sat in one of the three beanie bags on the floor. Strong Bad put down his book and grabbed his cup, sitting across from Homestar in another beanie bag. Homestar didn't look surprised at what he was wearing. Or, uh, what he wasn't wearing. Everyone knew that he only wore a shirt to school because it was required. He did keep his black pants on though, no need to flash anyone who accidentally looked in the window. What made him feel awkward was the fact Homestar's gaze lingered a bit longer than necessary on his chest. Then he noticed Homestar's mug.

"Geeze, would you like some hot chocolate with those marshmallows?"

Homestar blinked and looked at his cup. It was stuffed and overflowing with mini marshmallows. "Sorry, did you want some?"

Strong Bad shook his head in repulsion, grateful his cup only had a small handful of the white treats. "I'm getting a cavity just looking at you. Did you even get _any_ hot chocolate?"

"Two teaspoons, maybe three. Your mom's really nice; she let me have another bag of marshmallows in case I ran out." Homestar took out a bag of** very** flattened marshmallows and put it next to him, transferring a handful of marshmallows from the cup to his mouth. "Mmumph."

"Your disgusting sugar addiction aside, I'll work on designing the characters. I was thinking you, me, The Cheat, Bubs, and Strong Mad." Strong Mad, his older brother, had matured out since he had been a high school wrestler; he now worked as a furniture mover and was studying in college. Didn't mean he was going to make internet Strong Mad mature though.

Homestar nodded excitedly, taking a moment to swallow. "Yeah! We should also get Pom-Pom, Strong Sad, Marzipan, the janitor, Coach Z, the principal, and Homeschool!"

"Well, obviously we'll put your girlfriend Marzipan on." He ignored Homestar's correction of 'she's not my girlfriend!' "But who's Homeschool?"

He looked slightly surprised. "Remember freshman year? My cousin's, uncle's, daughter's, grandparent's, son's, nephew's—"

"Get to the point."

"Right. Well, he's related, at any rate. He was a transfer student from Russia."

"Oh, yeah." Strong Bad snapped his fingers in realization. "He was really smart with gadgets and electronics. He even showed us that mechanical arm he designed. It was pretty cool, could have fooled me." He ignored Homestar's small laugh. "I don't know, I think we have enough people as it is, anymore and we'll probably confuse people.

Homestar gave a small nod, unusually quiet. "Okay, that makes sense." Smiling, he made to get out of the beanie bag before sinking deeper. "Help?"

Strong Bad rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm, pulling Homestar out. The 'pop' that came from Homestar's shoulder made him let go of the other male's hand. Staring at his own hand, Strong Bad flexed his fingers in confusion. "You should moisturize your hands, they're bone dry." He brushed off the incident and sat on his bed, pulling out a few pieces of paper and a pencil. "You work on getting a basic web design up, the computer's already running." Hiding his smirk as Homestar sat down in his computer chair, he turned back to working on the best character of all, himself. It would look too weird if his mask stopped halfway down his nose like his real mask, so he just made his entire face a mask. Keep it nice and simple.

"Strong Bad, I think I broke the monitor of your computer."

Sighing, he stood up and leaned over Homestar, placing his elbow on the others head. "I don't know what you're talking about." Strong Bad lied. "The monitor is working just fine." He paused, faking a perplexed expression. "Well, maybe… Na, that's not it. It's just a silly story, nothing you would believe."

"What, what?!"

He had to turn away to keep from laughing at Homestar's desperate expression. "Well, The Cheat says Compy is haunted and he only works for me, but I don't believe him." Strong Bad glanced at the clock subtly. "It's just a silly ghost story." He counted down silently in his head. 10, 9, 8…

"Yeah," Homestar gave a nervous laugh and turned back to the computer. 6, 5, 4… "Everyone knows ghosts aren't real."

3—

2—

"It's not like I would believe—" Homestar screamed and fell back in his seat as the monitor flashed on, revealing a pixilated ghost on the screen, before going back to a normal computer screen.

His gut felt like it was going to burst and he feigned innocence and confusion. "What's wrong Homestar?"

Homestar's blue eyes were wide from where he was sprawled on the floor. "G-Ghost!" He yelled, waving one hand wildly at the computer while supporting his upper body with his other elbow. "The computew's haunted!"

Strong Bad raised an eyebrow as Homestar slipped into his old speech impediment. The speech therapist thought she had cured that three years ago when Homestar had first come to the school, but apparently not. "I thought you didn't believe in ghosts?"

He was silent as he pushed himself up, poking the computer screen hesitantly before pulling the computer chair back up. "But, but..."

"No, that's a computer; a butt is what you sit on. Will you stop messing around now and get to work?" As Homestar nodded and sat down, Strong Bad went back to his bed. Where had he left off? Oh yeah, drawing. What masked boxer didn't have boxing gloves? Well, he actually just sucked at drawing hands, but this worked too.

He was distracted as Homestar attempted to type on the keyboard, only to be met with no results. There was a 'ping' as a message box appeared on the computer screen. Strong Bad knew this by watching the reflection in the window next to his bed.

"You can see that wight? Tell me you can see it!" Homestar looked deathly pale as Strong Bad looked over. The little green pixel ghost was floating around the screen, seeming to petrify Homestar more than the cryptic words in simple, Times New Roman font.

'**I'm still here.'**

"Homestar, there's nothing there."

This was just too much fun.

Homestar stood up abruptly and sat on the edge of his bed, trying to stay far away from the computer, while at the same time staying close to Strong Bad.

There was silence for a few minutes where Homestar stared at the computer screen and Strong Bad ignored him in favor of drawing. "I think I'll just work on it at home." Homestar said slowly, taking his time getting up.

"If you say so." Strong Bad shrugged, not even bothering to look up. "Don't forget the marshmallows, I won't eat them."

Homestar nodded, obviously relieved as he grabbed the gift from Mrs. Strong and scurried out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him. "See you tomorrow."

He waited till Homestar was out of sight of the window before going over to the computer with a grin. After he cracked his knuckles, he started typing in the small message box underneath the message from earlier.

_BadBoxr4Life: Worked like a charm The Cheat, good job!_

**CheatMaster23: Just doing what I do best. I'm surprised he didn't notice that, 1.) It was just an IM, or 2.) My username actually had my name **_**in**_** it. Thank god the school has a computer room easy to break into.**

_BadBoxr4Life: You forget who we're talking about though, he's not very good at picking up clues. I got the whole thing on the cam-corder; I'll show you on the bus tomorrow. He actually believes there's a ghost on my computer._

**CheatMaster23: Classic~ I g2g, have to pick up dinner.**

_BadBoxr4Life: See ya._

He shut down his computer, after feeding his virtual ghost pet, and sat down on one of the beanie bags to start working on The Cheat drawing. It was funny, he kinda missed Dorkstar. It had been funny watching how he reacted to Boo. He thought back to when he helped Homestar out of the beanie bag. His skin had almost felt… like… Damn, he wasn't sure, and his hand tingled as he remembered.

Strong Bad sighed and just went back to drawing; he was already getting a headache and this would only aggravate it more. To hell with Homestar, he could be a freaking Barbie doll for all he cared.


	4. Chapter 3

**_Interruption_**

Hey everyone, hows life going? School dance is coming up in, like, three weeks. Mom dragged me out shopping at the mall bleh and bought me a dress double bleh. People are usually lucky if they can just force me into a skirt! Luckily though, the dress is pretty long, so I can probably be a sneak and wear pants underneath... Anyway, thanks to Amme Moto for beta reading, and helping understand more about punctuations.

I do not own Homestar Runner, or any of the characters.

**End Interruptio**

**Chapter 3**

Directed as by madness mere

Against a solid iceberg steer,

Nor budge it, though the infactuate ship went down.

The impact made huge ice-cubes fall

Sullen in tons that crashed the deck;

But that one avalanche was all--

No other movement save the foundering wreck.

-Herman Melville

"Ein Kind singt laut."

"A child sings loud." Strong Bad blew sharply on the opening of the straw from lunch, launching a spit ball right at the teacher.

Mrs. Gardiner seemed to know it was coming and stepped out of the way in time as it landed with a 'splat' on the dusty chalkboard. The glare from the teacher quickly silenced any snickers that students dared to utter.

"Strong Bad, lunch detention, Monday. Now before the bell rings, I want to remind you that the fair is coming this weekend." Relieved sighs echoed throughout the classroom and she chuckled. "The only homework you're getting is to enjoy your weekend. Now get out of here, you little soul-sucking leeches."

At that moment the bell rang, interrupted by the noise of chairs being pushed back by the German class. When Strong Bad's mom had asked why he had chosen to learn German, he didn't offer a reason even though it was quite simple. There were only three language choices to learn at Freedom Eagle high school: Spanish, French, and German. He had grown up knowing Spanish, since his mother had emigrated from Mexico. French was just, ugh, no. That was the language that love-sick couples spoke to each other, believing it to be 'romantic'. Bleh. He got the jibbilies just thinking about it. German seemed a powerful language to him. The truth? He wanted to know what Pom-Pom was muttering to himself when he was angry, and switched to his native tongue.

Pom-Pom took Spanish, saying he needed to understand the languages of his clients when he owned his own business. He already knew English, French, and German.

The Cheat alleged he was learning French to 'romance' the ladies. Coincidently, he was in the same class as Marzipan and Homestar. So far the French only earned giggles from the girls and squeals of how 'cute that little freshman is'.

It wasn't any surprise that Homestar and Marzipan were both taking French. They were pathetic, both in denial. The entire school always told them they would be the perfect couple. The blond pushover and the track star jock… Ya, the perfect couple.

Strong Bad growled and ignored the ache in his chest, probably from the taco he had for lunch, and opened his locker, before thinking back to what Mrs. Gardiner said.

He and The Cheat were going to have a blast at the fair! In fact, he could see the blond dodging between the people twice his height right now, yellow and black spotted coat standing out in the crowd. Strong Bad had to pull him out of the way though when he looked like he was about to be smashed between two linebackers for the school football team.

"Thanks." The Cheat breathed, leaning against the bottom locker. "I thought I was going to be a The Cheat pancake for sure!"

Strong Bad closed his locker and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "I can't wait for the fair this weekend, I can go on so many rides I'll puke, and we can probably sneak you into that bounce house you like so much."

"Wha?" The Cheat looked at him with a confused expression, completely ignoring Strong Bad's teasing. "Did you forget your brain at home or something? I got a 'date' with Brittney and her girlfriend!" He smirked a bit. "If I'm lucky, they'll start making out. Can you spell H-O-T?"

"It's… Disturbing, to hear such perverted thoughts coming from someone who looks so young." He scowled, his mask not hiding his emotions very well. "Great, now who am I going with? All the girls except The Ugly One are already taken!"

After thinking for a minute, The Cheat grinned and shrugged. "Not my problem, good luck with that, see ya!" He snickered at the look on his face and took off laughing into the crowds again, whipping in between people with skill. The only thing that kept him from running after the little cretin was one of the dean's glares, seeming to goad him. God, how he hated school.

Sighing in defeat, Strong Bad started walking at a normal pace, the halls just starting to empty out.

* * *

This was pathetic. A Friday night and he was spending it watching TV. In his room. By himself. The Cheat was probably at Bub's Convenient Store a few blocks from school. Bub's had hired him to DJ there every Friday night. Most of the kids at school went there every week, and Strong Bad had free pass since he knew both the manager and the DJ. Strong Bad just wasn't really in the mood though, feeling the need to be lazy.

Hearing Strong Sad's emo music through the door, he sulked and turned up the volume on the TV before continuing to channel surf. Eight soap operas, one sci-fi, and four cartoon channels later, he finally settled on watching the news. Usually it was too depressing, but he was having a pity-party right now and 'depressing' sounded like it fit in that category.

"A neighborhood watch was initiated earlier this morning by the police department, for the entire city, in the event of a series of rapes and murders. Details on how many have been found and in what way they were killed are unknown, but victims seem to disappear for a week before turning up dead. The age range seems to be from as young as ten, to thirty. Parents are advised to take safety precautions for children." The attractive news lady coughed uncomfortably.

He snorted. Someone died. People die every day. So these people were raped, better than being tortured. He really couldn't care less about these people, the chances of it happening to anyone he knew were so slim it was nearly impossible.

"In other news, a young immigrant boy from Russia, Sergei Komarov, is about to address the scientific community and press on an advanced artificial limb he has designed."

Strong Bad sat up abruptly and leaned in closer to the TV. Sergei Komarov? Homeschool!

The camera switched over at that moment to an obviously bored teenager, standing at a podium in front of a large audience. He looked almost exactly like Homestar, same brown hair, same blue eyes, and same lithe body structure. One of the only few things different was that he wore slim glasses and had a calmer, more controlled, body language. Homestar would be jumping out of his pants right now, while this kid looked like he really couldn't care less. Homeschool adjusted his glasses for a second before pausing, obviously preparing himself.

"Any questions?" Strong Bad could only assume that he had missed the speech. Reporters immediately barraged him in flashing lights and questions, and he randomly pointed a finger at a reporter, causing the rest to quiet down to hear the question.

"How does it work?"

His glare showed he was disgruntled with having to repeat himself. "As I have said _earlier_, that is a subject that would take hours to thoroughly explain. Unfortunately, the arm would only work on those that have just had their arms lost or amputated. Freshly cut nerve endings would be connected to wires designed to receive signals from the brain. Over time, as the body heals, the arm becomes like another limb. The arm can disconnect about an inch from the shoulder through safety locks. The prototype I designed a few years ago, while not as efficient as the one I show now, can work for those whose injuries have already been healed at where the shoulder connects to the arm. Although it's a bit more clumsy and slower to react, it works pretty well. Now, did I make that simple enough for you?"

The camera switched back to the news lady and Strong Bad hummed. This was on a local news station; did that mean Homeschool was in town? Homestar hadn't mentioned anything about him, and he wondered if he even knew he was here. The kid was weird when he had been at their school, always following Homestar around and constantly scribbling down notes in a small black notebook. Not that Homestar had minded. He had enjoyed showing the boy around school and introducing him to his friends and introducing him to his friends. Homeschool probably remembered Strong Bad as the one that snuck itching powder into his underwear. Good times, good times.


	5. Chapter 4

**Interruption**

Hey everyone, I'm back, finally. I've been really busy and my beta has been on vacation so there haven't been any new chapters until now. Four more days till the end of school for me! I have to thank my readers who have kept, well, reading! I'm not the best writer so it really makes my day. Thanks to Amme Moto for betaing, and now on with the story. By the way, first week of summer vacation I might not be able to update. I got accepted on a scholarship to an art school for a week, yay!

I do not own Homestar Runner, I wish though.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 4**

Nor stir the slimy slug that sprawls

Along thy dead indifference of walls.

-Herman Melville

The silence reverberated in his ears and he shivered, wrapping his bare arms around himself for warmth. A whimper every once in a while was the only sign that the other two people in the room were still alive, for now. He had been there for five days and he was feeling so weak. The boy and girl had been there—according to their guesses— for about two days when he had first arrived.

Strong Bad knew what was going to happen to them. He knew that today was their seventh day here. He knew what was happening as the man finally strangled the frail twelve-year old children with a simple belt, even if he was too tired to open up his eyes to see. They couldn't put up a fight after a week with no food and barely a sip of water every day. He did it quickly, which he was thankful for, because that meant that his death would be quick too on his seventh day, and he didn't have to listen long to their dying breaths. Envy would have taken hold of him had he not been so tired. At this point he wished for their death as well.

He watched blearily as the man dragged the naked cadavers out of the cellar. He knew his own body was nearly as mutilated as theirs from what he could see, with blood and pus caked on his skin, along with other fluids. Bruises were green and yellow and a particularly deep gash on his leg was obviously infected. He glanced at the clock out of habit; the man had left it there as if to taunt them about the fact they had such a short time to live.

Three of his teeth had fallen out one day, three hours, fifty six minutes ago. That had happened when the man had slammed his face against a pipe, mainly hitting his jaw in the process. Seven of his nails had been ripped off four days, seven hours, twenty three minutes ago. Three had come off when he had been clawing at the floor to get away, four the man had pulled off himself, aroused by the seventeen year olds screams of pain. One eye was swollen shut from being punched four days, seven hours, forty eight minutes ago. For that he was grateful, because now only half of his vision reminded him of where he was. His collarbone had been broken three days ago, when the man had stumbled down in a drunken rage and took pleasure in breaking the children's bones and beating him around when he had attempted to get up to help. Those were only the basic injuries.

Four days, seven hours, fourteen minutes ago, the first two days Strong Bad had been here, that bastard had done 'it'. No, four days, seven hours, fourteen minutes ago, the first day Javier Strong had arrived and Strong Bad had left.

Strong Bad would have kicked this man's ass by now and gotten out of here.

Strong Bad would have been able to keep the other children from dying.

Strong Bad wouldn't have let 'it' happen to him.

Strong Bad had disappeared with his mask the man had taken for a trophy of 'good times'.

That god damn, mother fucking, faggot.

Strong Bad, Javier, choked on a weak sob and buried his head in his arms, careful not to cause more injuries than he already had.

* * *

**Saturday, five days ago**

"I'll take a frank footer with everything you got on it and a Mountain Dew." The man shuffled through the small stand, probably used to teenagers that ordered the unhealthiest foods they could get their hands on while their parents weren't around. Strong Bad handed him a five dollar bill once he got his food and sat on an old bench nearby. The atmosphere of the fair was pierced with screams of terror and joy, children begging their parents to go on different rides, and the constant looping of the carnival music.

Today had been great. Screw The Cheat; he could have a good time even when he wasn't here. Humph, abandoning him for two lesbians.

"Lucky bastard."

"You shouldn't swear so much, it can be taken as a sign of limited intelligence." Strong Bad nearly jumped out of his skin as the voice informed him dully of this.

"Where the crap did you two come from?!"

Homestar sat on his right, munching on corndog contently. Homeschool was on his left, obviously the one who had snapped him out of his daze. "We've been sitting here for about two minutes; did you** just** now notice us?" He was wearing a simple blue shirt and khaki pants, sharply contrasting from the business suit he had been wearing on the news yesterday.

"Mmph shlmph umph frum." Taking a moment to swallow, Homestar repeated the sentence. "If he had realized we were here earlier he would have told us to get lost, or something like that." He nodded wisely and took another bite out of the corndog. "What are you doing by yourself here anyway Strong Bad? Figured you would have a date."

Contempt laced Homestar's words subtly and Strong Bad bristled. How dare the jerk mention his dateless status right now! After tossing the rest of Homestar's corndog into the trash, much to the teen's angst, he stood up and started walking towards another rollercoaster. He had lost his appetite when he saw the look-alikes and threw the hotdog away as soon as he passed another trash can.

"Where are we going?" _Crap!_

He sighed and rubbed his temples. "_I _am going on a rollercoaster; **you two** are going somewhere far away from here."

Homestar just shook his head and smiled. "No way, you seem lonely, we're going to keep you company!" The boy groaned in response and tried to ignore them.

Surprisingly, Strong Bad found he was enjoying himself later on. Maybe that joy came from watching Homestar puke, maybe that joy came from Homestar grabbing onto him in fear when they starting going down a particularly large hill on a rollercoaster. Maybe both. Either way, hours passed quickly for them. Homeschool would wander off every once in a while to leave them by themselves, making up excuses as he went. The little brat knew more than he should.

They went on more than just roller coasters though; they played games and tried to win prizes. Strong Bad won a stuffed animal dog with only one leg, which was soon dubbed 'Lil Brudda'. He gave it to Homestar because; well… he was too old for toys like that. It would still be one of Homestar's favorite possessions seven years later, and many more years after that.

They left the fair about the time the sun was going down, Homestar's mom picking up her son and distant relative, Strong Bad choosing to walk home.

He couldn't really remember what happened after that. He was pretty sure the man had knocked him out somehow, judging by a very painful bump he woke up with. What did he expect though with Senor Cardgage, the guy who lived across the street when he was five?

That would also be why he smelled of pea soup.


	6. Chapter 5

**Interruption**

_Man, this summer was CRAZY. Here I was thinking it would be relaxing :D Silly me. I never got to type anything, until now. But now I'm going to a new highschool so I need to get into the swing of things. They assign a lot of homework here._

_Meh. This chapter's okay, at least it's longer. I was considering cutting it in half but, knowing me, it'll be another month or two before I update again._

**Schwoo:** Sort of the history. I'll probably, like, START with the history, then somehow get on a COMPLETELY different subject. I blame my ADD.

**Band8PGeek:** It's okay, we're all slash-ho's on the inside :3.

**Puffles45:** I'm trying! DX

**Efga:** Thank you :3, here's a nice long chapter for you.

**A dude that shall remain Anonymous:** Aw, you flatter me! See, I felt like I was making it SUPER OBVIOUS he was going to get man-raped. There will probably be a little teen angst though. There teenagers, it's to be expected :)

I don't own Homestar Runner or related characters, I would be killed by TERMINATOR!

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 5**

The idea of believing in something  
Beyond this place, beyond my pain.  
Beyond all that I have felt and  
All that remains to remind me  
Of a past I can never escape.

-Keaton Foster

"I found you a buddy."

Javier ignored Senor Cardgage as he opened the door, and there was a dull thud as another body was dropped on the ground. The next few minutes were silent as the new prisoner roused to their senses and moved around slowly.

When he felt the person's hand grabbing his bad arm, he hissed in pain and tried to pull away. The voice was slurred, but Javier froze when he heard it.

"Stwong Bad, ish that you?"

"Homestar? What the hell are you doing in here?" His voice was weak and he struggled to look at the other boys face.

Homestar wore a lopsided grin and chuckled. "I'm smawt, I knew you was here." Pulling himself against the wall next to Javier, he raised one finger in the air. "I shaw it on da news, I **knew** you wash hewe. Now, I'm gonna get us outta hewe."

Snorting, Javier watched as Homestar turned away from him and started massaging his left shoulder. "Homestar, even you wouldn't be as stupid as to believe something like that. What makes you think you know how to get out of here, when hell knows how many people have been here before us?" When Homestar ignored him he grunted tiredly. "Fuck, if you got us out of here I'd kiss you. But, since** that's** never going to happen, and my week is up tonight, I've got nothing to worry about."

This caught Homestar's attention and he turned back quickly. "Is that a pwomise?" At Javier's weak nod he grinned even wider, and he started to wonder what he was up to. "All wight then, I'm holding you shoo tat."

His one good eye opened as much as it could when Homestar's left arm disconnected at the shoulder. Determined, the boy started ripping off the skin, struggling in his drugged state. He was sure he had gone insane until he saw what was beneath the skin. Not blood, not muscle, not bone.

Wires.

Wires and metal and other tech stuff.

"Jesus Christ, it's Terminator all over again." Groaning, he rolled onto his back and watched dully as Homestar tore through the wires and metal as if searching for something. Curiosity was burning him from the inside out, but he honestly didn't have strength to bother asking him what was going on. This was just a dream anyway; Homestar could be a damn Martian for all he cared-

"Is that a cell phone?!"

"Yup, I hid it in my awm. Police pweple can twack phone calls, so awl I need to do is call them."

He stared at the wires that were now strewn around Homestar and the half mangled arm. "How did you get it in your arm in the first place?"

The boy paused for a moment and his face screwed up together in concentration. "Thewe was a latch somewhewe on it that I could open the awm up with… But I don't see it." After lifting it up and running a finger over the small bicep, he shrugged.

"That's because it's on the other **side** idiot!"

"Well I got teh phone now don' I?"

If Javier hadn't been so grateful, he would have punched him across the face with as much strength as he could muster in this situation.

After taking five minutes just to dial in the three numbers for 911, Homestar held the phone against his ear with his good arm. "Hello? Howzy, can I get some police and an ambulance to come down hewe? I dun' know; I was drugged when he bwought me here. Serious? Hold on," He held the phone away from his ear. "Stwong Bad, is this sewious?"

Javier lifted his uninjured arm and snatched the phone away from him. "Ya it's serious you **dumb ass**, let me talk." The woman's voice asked anxiously through the phone if they were alright. "Of course this is **serious**, if you don't send over some damn cops I won't fucking be around much longer, and Homestar's going to get much more than he bargained for when he decided to act like an idiot. Do you understand?" He hissed the last sentence and the woman sounded stunned on the other side of the line.

"Uh… They're on their way right now, what's your situation?"

"That man on the news, I saw him about a week ago, the one that rapes-" He winced at the word. "And kills the people he kidnaps? We're in his fucking basement right now. My friend's still drugged up, and I can't really do much in my condition."

"The serial killer?"

"Did you listen to a word I just said?!"

"Yes, yes, calm down sir. They should be there in about five minutes if the tracker is right-"

"Good." Javier hung up on her and threw the phone back at Homestar. "Keep that in your pocket. By the way, get my clothes; they're over on the other side of the room. I can't reach them."

Homestar stumbled over and brought back the cloth, what was left of it anyway. "It's all torn Strong Bad; I don't think you can wear this."

"Fine." They waited in silence and Homestar sat down protectively next to his head. "If you touch me I** will** find a way to kill you." Homestar's hand retreated rapidly.

"Are you cold?"

"Huh?" Javier thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess, but I've been cold the whole time I've been here. I can live for another five minutes."

"Hewe." He shivered as Homestar place his shirt over him. "At least I've got pants."

According to the clock, the lady was wrong; it was **six** minutes until the police got there. They were able to tell by Senor Cardgage's yells as the police subdued and most likely handcuffed him. They had to wait another three minutes and forty six seconds until the basement door opened and two policemen stepped in with guns out and cocked.

"You're fucking late." It was then he finally lost conscious.

* * *

"Seventeen year old boy Michael Runner is being proclaimed the new town hero for his brave actions. Thursday night he left his house around nine, and for two hours wandered around the entire city by himself. His efforts were 'rewarded' and he was drugged in a downtown ally by none other than the serial killer himself, Mr. Cardgage, a.k.a. the Pennsylvania strangler. The death totals-"

The door slammed open and Homestar jumped in dramatically, landing on one knee and holding a bouquet in the air. "I bring flowers of wondrous healing powers!"

"Whoop-de-fucking-doo."

Homestar stood up and placed the brightly colored flowers on the hospital bed stand next to him. "Do you have to watch this?"

"I had the news on, not my fault if they keep talking about him." His insides crawled as they showed a picture of Senor Cardgage.

"You don't even watch the news." Homestar pointed out. "Ever. There are almost a hundred other channels, so you don't have to watch the news in the first place."

"If you haven't noticed, my fingers hurt like hell." The fingertips were bandaged, but three of the fingernails were starting to grow back. "I would much rather be watching sports." On queue, Homestar picked up the control for him and changed to a different channel. Baseball. "I hate the Yankees."

"Most people do." Homestar said before sitting down in a guest seat. "Anyway, you wanted a sport on, and you like the Red Sox."

They stared at each other in silence until Javier sighed. "Just tell me what you came to ask Homestar."

"A friend can't just check in to say hello?"

"No."

The boy shifted guiltily in his seat. "Fine. I just wanted to tell you that I'm here for you, you know? If you need me to help with anything or just need to talk, I'm a phone call away."

Javier just stared at him.

"I know that was incredibly corny, I don't need to be reminded." Homestar got up to leave. "By the way, keep an eye out for any reporters. They might sneak past the hospital staff." Hesitating at the door, he looked back. "Are you going to be okay sleeping alone tonight?"

No. "Ya."

He wavered at the door for a second more before finally leaving; closing the door with the one arm he had left.

Javier stared after him in silence. The only sound came from the TV and the loud booing of Red Socks fans. His eyes landed on the flowers and he picked them up gently, turning them in his hands. It was mostly pansies, peonies with pink, red, and yellow tulips. A few other flowers he didn't recognize as well.

"_Well aren't you just a pretty little fuck, pretty as a flower."_

His grip on the bouquet tightened and he heaved it at the wall above the trash can, brightly colored petals exploding around that half of the room before floating to the floor.

* * *

"_Why you trying to get away? We haven't even got to the fun part." The voice taunted him from above, the foot on his back pressing down harder as Javier continued trying to drag himself away. Oh God, he couldn't breathe. His head was yanked back by his hair and The Voice whispered in his ear. "Come now, we still have so much time together, we might as well have some fun. I think I'm gonna enjoy my time with you tonight." His head was dropped and one of his torn hands was grabbed and yanked back, a pair of pliers getting a firm grip on his thumb nail. Javier struggled to try and look back at The Voice._

_Homestar's face grinned back at him._

"_Scream for me my flower."_

* * *

Hands, voices, panic, God his eardrums were going to split. The Voice was all around him, taking on different tones. It was happening again. The torture, the pain, he would have screamed had he not been screaming at the top of his lungs already.

He only started to calm down when something pricked his arm. A tranquilizer? Most likely. Javier's eyes were finally able to see the hospital room instead of gray basement walls. The Voice was just about seven hospital staff members, including one guest. Homestar. He shuddered but was unable to work up the energy to scream again. Five people had been hit in his panic attack he noticed before falling asleep again.

He didn't dream this time.

* * *

"Homestar." Javier greeted halfheartedly.

The boy in turn grinned and brought in the wheelchair, both arms now intact. "How are ya feeling Strong Bad?"

"Like crap." He deadpanned. "I ripped my stitches apart, knocked out two nurses, and gave you a black eye, what did you expect?"

Homestar paused and shrugged after a moment, helping Javier into the wheelchair. "Okay you got a point there. This black eye hurts a lot I hope you know!"

Javier shifted his left arm, which was in a sling due to the broken collarbone, to a more comfortable position as Homestar wheeled him out of the room. Apparently the doctors thought he was still too weak to be trying to get around by himself. "When did you get a new arm?" He asked.

"Homeschool made me a new one." Homestar rotated the arm and clenched his fingers experimentally. "You should have seen him; he was **pissed** when I told him I'd broken it." One of the nurses from the night before made a wide berth as they passed. Probably one of the ladies he knocked out.

"… Hey, Homestar?" Javier spoke quietly, staring straight ahead. Homestar acknowledged him with a small hum. "How did you lose your arm?" When there wasn't an answer, Javier guessed he had hit a sore spot and didn't press the matter.

"Actually, I lost both, it was a car accident." Homestar answered softly after a minute of silence. He was surprised when Homestar continued. "I was ten at the time. We were hit by a drunk driver, my mom was at the wheel, and he collided with her car on the passenger side at an intersection. That's where I was sitting. The bones in both my arms were crushed; I had four broken ribs, a broken leg, internal bleeding, a hairline fracture on my skull, and a punctured lung. Hell, I suppose I'm lucky I **survived**." Javier glanced back and saw a remorseful look on Homestar's face. "My arms seemed to heal, but I could barely use them, they just got in the way. The nerves in my arms had been so damaged that they hadn't healed completely. On a good day I might have been able to bend my finger. Eventually the doctors had to amputate them."

He paused before speaking again. "I was depressed after the accident for about a year, considered suicide, never went through with it. Eventually though, I got used to not having arms and started to heal mentally. Then Homeschool decided to visit unexpectedly, he offered a way for me to be somewhat normal again."

Homestar laughed bitterly. "How could I refuse? That was the only thing I wanted at the time. I would have given up anything." They were outside the door now, but Homestar waited to wheel him into the therapist's room. "I had to go through surgery again since they had to reopen where my arm had healed. Homeschool then forcefully attached the severed nerve endings to a power base the rest of the arm could latch on to. Signals would go through the nerves, be interpreted by the base, then it would send signals to the rest of the machine on what it was supposed to do. Since the arm was a prosthetic, it could be taken apart or opened so that Homeschool or I could repair it if it needed it, which was how I hid the cell phone."

Javier turned around to ask another question, wincing at the feel of stitches stretching. "But-"

"Come on, the therapist will think I kidnapped you." Homestar interrupted abruptly, opening the door and wheeling Javier into the small room, a man sitting at a desk looking up and smiling as they came in. Catching sight of his disgruntled look, Homestar sighed. "If you have any more questions, I'll answer them later." He whispered in Javier's ear as he helped him lay down on the couch. "Right now I need some time to think." Homestar stood up and gave a two finger salute as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Dr. Johnson looked back at him with eyes twinkling. "You have a great friend, he has a good heart." The therapist sat back in the chair and Javier shifted his gaze to the ceiling without answering. "Now, the nurses said you had a nightmare last night, can you tell me about it?"

"I **can**."

They waited in silence until Dr. Johnson sighed. "Javier, I can't help you if you don't give me something to work with. You came to my office asking me to stop the dreams and panic attacks, but I can't do anything if you don't tell me what happened. Just tell me what happened, please?"

Staring at the ceiling, he nodded after a moments thought. "It was after he started, not while he was doing 'it', but after he-,"Javier whispered the words, wincing at the memories. "Molested me. Three of my fingernails had already torn off and my hands were all bloody. I couldn't see him; he had me pinned on my stomach." His hands shook and he tried to keep from panicking. "He was talking about how **good** I'd be, about how I was his **flower**. When he was yanking back one of my hands, to yank out more fingernails with a pair of pliers, I was able to get a look at his face. He had Homestar's face." He clenched his eyes shut, ignoring the spike of pain that shot through his hands as he clenched at his hair, trying to keep his breathing normal.

"_Scream for me my flower."_

Dr. Johnson was kind enough to wait for the panic to pass, shivers generally dying down. When Javier was somewhat calm again, Dr. Johnson finally spoke. "Is that why we found flower petals all over half your room?" When Javier nodded, he chuckled. "The nurses didn't enjoy cleaning that up. I would know; half of them come to **me** with their problems."

His face became more serious. "I have an idea of why that boy may have been in Mr. Cardgage's place in your dream. The flowers, for one, may have triggered memories, and you related them to him. I'll take it that was your first time with another man, willing or not?" He took the silence for confirmation. "It's obvious he cares for you a lot, more than a friend. Subconsciously I'm pretty sure you realize that."

"I don't like Homestar that way!" Javier interrupted angrily, glaring at the therapist.

"I never said you did," Dr. Johnson replied innocently. "But I wouldn't be surprised if you two were happy together." Ignoring his spluttering, he continued. "He's trying to court you without realizing it. When someone has a romantic interest their body will release hormones in the air when around that person. Your body's picking up on that. Now, if he would be your first dating relationship with another man, you're relating it to your first experience sexually with another male. Naturally humans are cautious of the unfamiliar. Because of Mr. Cardgage, you are relating any relationship with a male to him. Which male would like to have a relationship with you?"

He waited for Javier to grasp what he was saying. "Crap." Javier stated simply.

Dr. Johnson looked at him carefully when Javier started to shake again. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, perfectly **fine**." Javier hissed at him.. "I just found out my classmate's _gay_, and that I'm scared of both flowers and fags." He spat the words out angrily, all signs of calm gone in a flash, and attempted to sit up. "Not only that, but apparently I'm a fag too because I like him. I like him!" Some of the stitches on his back ripped and a grinding sound could be heard from the broken collarbone, but he was too far gone to feel the searing pain. "So, yes, I'm **okay**! I'm okay. I'll be okay..." Javier's good arm fell back to his side. When had he lifted it?

"Come on." Dr. Johnson said quietly, helping him into the wheelchair again, Javier's skin crawling from where Dr. Johnson had touched him. "I'll bring you back to your room. I think it's better if you don't see your friend for a while."


	7. Chapter 6

**Interruption**

_Hey, heads up to readers, I'm going to be changing the title of this story by next chapter, as well as the rating. New title- 'As it is in Heaven', new rating- 'M'. I had been planning on changing the rating and title for a while now, but I wanted to give you a heads up before I actually did. Other good news, the story is finished! Me and my Amme Moto are working furiously to edit the chapters and I'll update consistently. Time to respond to reviews!_

lightskaylaction- Yeah, it wigs me out too. It's still going to be there, but all you have to do is skip the italicized parts, because that's where it mainly is.

The Musachan- Greatly flattered my dear, I expect an update soon on your story ;). To anyone reading this, go check out The Musachan's story Fences, I'm really enjoying it so far.

Efga- Once again, thank you for the praise!

Mu- Dude, you have no idea how much this is bugging me. I've been trying for ages to use the link you gave me in the reviews but it won't work! If you could send it to me again that would be great, or in another link, I'm dying over here.

dontEVENgirlfriend- Eh, sure. Thank you!

ElevatorMusicINC- Fuhshaw for being hooked!

Disclaimer- I own no one.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 6**

The weight of the world is on her shoulders  
As she watches them grow up and get older.  
Sometimes they're governed by unknown forces  
And they don't always make the right choices

- Teresa D. Patterson

* * *

"_Get away from them!"_

_The man turned and glared at Javier as he pushed himself up. Swaying on his feet he took a step forward before lunging at him. Every part of him shrieked in pain, hunger, and exhaustion, and it didn't take much for the larger man to force him down on the floor with a sneer on his face. The twins huddled in the corner, the sister was missing an eye and the brother tried to keep himself in between the man and her, despite the blood dripping down his neck and head from the knife wounds and the bone sticking out from his leg._

_Javier grunted as his attention was dragged back to the present situation, the man had gotten up and had his foot on his chest, pinning him to the floor._

"_You damn cunt," His voice was slightly slurred from the effect of the alcohol. "Don't you dare raise a hand against me. You need to be taught a lesson, you whore." Javier screamed as a well placed kick landed between his shoulder and neck, a crack resonating from the collar bone._

* * *

"Javier, you're checking out tomorrow, you're still having nightmares, and I won't be able to see you for free once you're gone from the hospital. We're in a bit of a pickle." Dr. Johnson placed Javier's folder on his desk with a tired sigh, rubbing his temple.

Javier sat up slightly, wincing in discomfort as his collar bone grinded uncomfortably in the sling. "Well," He said, "You have some plan don't you? You wouldn't be telling me all of this if you didn't."

"Well, I do have one idea…"

* * *

_Everything was pain now. Blood was starting to trickle down his legs to join the pool he was leaning in on the floor. A strangled sob worked its way out of his throat, making the man behind him chuckle and push harder._

_Pain._

_Javier's bloody hands lost their grip on the floor, sending his upper body crashing into the blood, his jaw hitting the concrete floor painfully. _

* * *

"Strong Bad, it's just a dream, wake up!" Javier sat up with a start, pulling back from the hand holding his shoulder with a whimper. It took him a few moments to realize he wasn't in the basement, he had his clothes on, and he wasn't lying in a puddle of blood. Homestar was looking at him with a worried expression. "It's okay, it's just me. You're in my room, remember?"

Javier nodded, feeling an ounce of guilt at the black bags under Homestar's eyes. He had been waking the other boy like this for about a week now, and it was obviously taking its toll. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little disoriented." He hoped that the room was too dark for Homestar to see the tear tracks on his face. He needed something to distract him; he didn't want to think about it. "Would it bother you if I watched some TV?"

Homestar looked a little apprehensive. "You really should try to sleep…" He started off hesitantly.

"I don't think I could sleep anyway." He hated the way his voice cracked as he said this.

The last of Homestar's resolve crumbled away and he nodded, eyes soft. "Do you need me to get you anything before I go back to sleep?"

He huffed indignantly. "I'm not helpless, you know."

Homestar just chuckled and yawned, already lying back down and hugging his pillow.

Javier turned the remote around in his hand, not turning on the TV but choosing to watch the other boy sleep. There was the slight rise and fall of the chest as the breathing evened out. Homestar had let Javier take the bed and chose to sleep on the floor, and the red comforter was tangled around the lanky body that only a runner could have. Homestar hadn't had a haircut since Javier had been kidnapped and the wavy brown curls fell to his shoulders. He looked better with shorter hair, but he was still kind of cute.

Javier groaned quietly and leaned back against the headboard, head hitting it with a soft 'thump'. Homestar shifted in his makeshift bed on the floor before settling.

His thoughts traveled back to the man that made him aware he was repressing these thoughts. Apparently the doctor had thought having a friend sleepover, or vice versa, would help reduce the amount of nightmares he had. Even if that didn't work, the friend would at least be close by to wake him up.

What scared Javier was that the first person he thought of had not been The Cheat, but Homestar. Ever since Dr. Johnson had told him about the whole "gay crush" Homestar most likely had on him, he hadn't been able to think of anything else. It even seemed like he was starting to develop feelings of his own for Dorkstar, even though these "feelings" were quickly crushed with an imaginary mallet.

It honestly had Javier believing there was some demented god screwing around with his life for kicks, just to watch Javier squirm.

This sent his mind on a seemingly random train of thought, about wondering why everyone assumed god was a god and not a goddess. Why not a hot, female goddess?

Then it clicked.

It must be because Homestar's been with him constantly since he got out of that place; he had forgotten the joy of hot girls! Now convinced he had a plan, he smiled and resolved to buy a few Playboy magazines next time he went to the store to cure this little dilemma.

* * *

Javier breathed harshly as he pumped harder with his good hand, a strangled groan escaping his throat, the dirty magazine lying on the ground near him. A loud knock came from the door and he cursed his luck.

"Strong Bad, you've been in the bathroom for ages now, I really have to use the toilet!"

Javier grit his teeth. "I'm a little **busy**, Homestar." His voice was ragged and he bit back another groan. "Go use a bush or something."

"I'll just be real quick!" Homestar's voice called desperately through the door. Javier felt a regret at forgetting to lock the door as it opened, Homestar freezing at the sight of the other boy. Both of their faces turned bright red and Homestar quickly stepped out and shut the door, muttering something about he was going to go find a bush outside.

Cheeks hot with embarrassment, Javier finished what he had started, now with the image of the blushing Homestar, an animalistic cry of pleasure on his lips. His body went limp after the tremors stopped and his pounding heart seemed deafening in the quiet bathroom. With a soft curse, he got up and kicked the Playboy magazine as he walked to the shower to wash the sticky white mess off his abdomen and hand.

* * *

Javier walked down the stairs, black hair only somewhat dry and dripping water onto his bare chest, and his normal leather pants slung on his hips and covering the litter of scars that covered his body. The sling was back on, having been removed for the earlier deed.

Homestar glanced up from the kitchen table before blushing hotly and quickly turning his gaze back to his fingernails as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. At the moment Javier seriously felt like making a run back upstairs again, but he knew he was going to have to face Homestar eventually, so he took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, turning one of the kitchen table seats around.

His legs straddled the chair and he leaned his head on his arms, which were folded on the back of the wooden seat. "So…" He looked around for something to talk about and his eyes glanced at the stove. "Why's the oven on?"

"Mom had to run out for some groceries she forgot," explained Homestar, "She told me to keep an eye on the muffins she put in."

"She left **you** in charge of the oven?!"

"That's what I said."

They laughed at that before sinking back into the awkward silence. Javier spoke first. "I… uh, should have locked the door. Sorry you had to see that."

Homestar's face was as red as a fire engine and he was still refusing to look him in the eyes. "I'm a guy," he mumbled, shifting in an embarrassed manner, "I've seen it before."

They lapsed into another silence with only a few uncomfortable coughs. "So we agree never to speak of this again?" Javier asked quickly after a few minutes.

"Ya." Homestar agreed just as quickly, both seeming to relax visibly after the conformity. They proceeded to talk about trivial things like football stats and who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman, until the settled that Cat Woman would trump them both. It was nice, and Javier was enjoying himself.

"Is something burning?"

Homestar jumped up in a panic. "The muffins!" He rushed to the oven and turned it off, grabbing some hot mitts and opening the oven door. He pulled them out of the oven and groaned dejectedly at the burnt, black pastries. "This is bad; Mom's going to be so disappointed in me."

Seeing the look on Homestar's face, he sighed at the unwanted feeling of sympathy. Getting up, he asked "Do you know where the baking supplies are?"

* * *

"Javier, these are wonderful!" They all sat together, by 'they' meaning Ms. Runner, Homestar, and himself. "Are you planning on being a baker on the Food Network? I would watch the show." The lines on her face creased together as she smiled warmly and winked at him.

He smiled back. "Thanks, I get a lot of practice at home." He explained. "No one in my family can cook; I'm the only one who can make anything edible. They're probably eating Chinese takeout right now."

They all got a good laugh at that. "Well, as much sympathy as I feel for your family," she took a small bite of mashed potatoes before continuing. "You're welcome in our house for as long as you like, consider yourself a part of the Runner family." Homestar grinned in agreement, the propeller cap he loved so dearly off his head while inside the house.

"Thank you, Ms. Runner, that means a lot." He said with some relief. "I feel bad imposing like this." Okay, so he couldn't turn down a free meal, she was a good cook.

"Trust me, it's no—" She was interrupted by a ring from the house phone. She frowned at the family dinner time being interrupted, but rushed over anyway.

Homestar frowned in worry, concern obvious in his eyes.

He leaned over to him. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, but it must be serious."

"Huh?"

"The house phone never rings," He explained in a whisper. "I'm told only to call it in case of an emergency."

"Maybe it's just a telemarketer?"

Homestar didn't buy it.

They watched as Ms. Runner answered the phone, her expression changing from worry, to confusion, to an expression of exhaustion that he had seen only once or twice in his life.

An expression of hopelessness.

She talked too quietly into the receiver for them to hear, nodding in agreement. After hanging up she stood there, gripping the counter until her knuckles were stark white, the worry lines along her brow more prominent than usual as she stood in silence.

"Mom?" Homestar said cautiously, as if she were a bomb ready to blow.

Ms. Runner took a quivering breath, a shaky smile on her face that looked like she was trying not to cry. "Remember your cousin, Gerald? Gerry? He's," Her voice cracked. "He's going to be staying with us for a while. There was a… There's been a…" She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head, tears glistened in her eyes and a choked sob was the only sound in the deathly silent kitchen. "Put your dishes in the sink when you're done." She choked out before hurrying to her bedroom and shutting the door.

Javier just sat there in a stunned silence as Homestar jumped up and ran to the door, knocking on it loudly and calling through the door desperately. "Mom, what's wrong? Are you okay? **Mom?**"


	8. Chapter 7

**Interruption**

As you can see, I've changed the title and rating. I'm still in shock over the fact I've actually finished the story, and I like how it came out so far. Everyone, let's thank National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I pretended to do it and it caused me to finish.

lightskaylaction- Yes, you think they get angsty **now, **wait till** l****ater**! They turn into such teenagers.

Harold6913- Oh! Thank you, you reminded me I should probably put in the summary that this is real life. Please don't complain about it being 'gay', as I warned in the summary. Thank you.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 7**

Let me die a youngman's death  
not a free from sin tiptoe in  
candle wax and waning death  
not a curtains drawn by angels borne  
'what a nice way to go' death

-Roger McGough

They sat at the table doing homework together; Homestar helping Javier with his homework. He had been working nonstop to catch up on six weeks of school and he was bored and tired. For the past two hours though they had barely gotten through half a page of math problems. Every time a car would drive by they would jump out of their seats and rut to the window to see if Ms. Runner was pulling into the driveway. Homestar had fallen asleep and Javier was well on his way to following suit, until he heard the sound of tires on the gravel driveway.

"Hey, Homestar, wake up," He yawned.

The boy mumbled incoherently and blinked his eyes open wearily. "I'm coming." He groaned, stumbling to the front door, Javier following him. Ms. Runner was unloading some bags from the trunk.

She looked up and smiled wearily. "Javier, can you help me carry these suitcases to Michaels room? Michael, keep an eye on Gerry for me." Javier now noticed the small boy hiding behind Ms. Runner. He wasn't much taller than The Cheat and had on a yellow bowler hat, a blue shirt, and long white pants. He clung to Ms. Runner's shirt and peered at Javier nervously through dirty blonde bangs. "Gerry, this is Javier, Michael's friend. He'll be staying with us for a while too. Say hi."

Gerry hid his face and tried to hide again. "Hoi 'avier." He said slowly, voice muffled by the shirt.

"I'm going to bring your stuff up." She said to the shy boy. "Stay with Cousin Michael until I get back, okay?"

He nodded hesitantly before latching onto Homestar's arm instead. "Whewr awre we going Mickale?" The words rolled off his tongue awkwardly, seeming to perplex him as he tried to repeat the sentence.

"I'm going to show you where everything is in the house."

Javier couldn't hear the rest of the conversation as he walked upstairs, a large suitcase in both hands. He was impressed to see Ms. Runner carrying equal or greater weight.

Ms. Runner set down the cases and turned to look at Javier. "I've been thinking." She started.

"I never would have guessed." He joked, receiving a small smack upside the head and a playful smile from the mom.

"Respect your elders," She reprimanded, obviously not being serious. "As I was saying, I've been thinking about our sleeping arrangements." Ms. Runner paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "I was thinking Gerry should stay in Michael's room, I'll sleep on the couch, and you two would have to share my bed."

"As in, we both sleep in the bed? Together?" Oh yeah, the gods hated him.

Nodding, she continued. "I have a king sized bed, so it would be pointless for me to take a two person bed while you both are sleeping on the couch and floor." She shrugged. "This way made the most sense to me." Seeing his hesitance, the corner of her mouth twitched upward in a smile. "Don't worry; my son won't molest you in your sleep."

He stared at her in surprise, trying to form a sentence. "You know-?"

"I'm his mother." Ms. Runner interrupted. "Did you think I wouldn't know my own son is gay?" She laughed as she left the room. "What kind of low-rate parent do you take me for?"

Javier stared after her in a stunned disbelief before following her down to the kitchen.

* * *

Even after a full nights sleep, Javier was still tired, and refused to open his eyes when he drifted into the realm of the waking world. He had dreamed last night, of course, but it hadn't really been a nightmare. He forgot what it had been about.

The blankets were warm in the cold room and sunshine was blocked out by the curtains drawn tightly over the window so it was still blissfully dark. Sounds were coming from the kitchen outside the room so he assumed Ms. Runner was making breakfast. The smell of bacon and eggs made his mouth water, and actually made him consider for-going his Saturday teen laziness until a later time. Sighing, he made to stretch, only to have the blanket tight around him and mumble incoherently.

What the crap?

His eyes blinked open and he stared in disbelief at the pajama clad chest. Well, if you could call 'pajamas' a worn t-shirt and boxers, but that wasn't important! What was important was that at the moment he was waking up in the scene of one of Coach Z's romance novels. The girl, for one reason or another, ends up sharing a bed with the love interest for some stupid clichéd reason, only to wake up being held in his arms, and she would notice how perfectly her body melded into his, like they were made to fit together like two puzzle pieces. He ignored the acknowledgement his mind made to the way they seemed to fit in this way.

What he seriously wanted to do was yell at Homestar, hit him, then yell at him some more. The sound of pans and skillets on the stove in the kitchen quickly terminated that idea however. The last thing he needed was Ms. Runner coming in because of the commotion, only to find her son and his friend tangled in the sheets with their arms wrapped around each other. Good way to send her into freak out mode if she assumed at first sight.

Instead he concentrated on trying to slip his arms from around the warm body while holding his breath, as if the slightest sound would wake him up. There was some reluctance at first, but eventually the slumbering teenager gave up and cuddled next to the pillow, shivering from the lack of warmth. Javier's skin crawled as well, not from the thought of **cuddling **with another guy, but the fact he had enjoyed it. With a major case of the jibbilies, he crawled out of the bed onto his own two feet, stretching so his shirt hiked up on his stomach, revealing more of the mocha-colored skin.

After a few cracks from his back, he sighed and walked over to Homestar's side of the bed. The body was curled around the pillow and he breathed softly.

"Homestar." There was no response, so Javier poked him. How was he going to get this lump out of bed? "I have a bag of marshmallows for you if you wake up."

"Marshamllows?" Homestar mumbled, opening one eye blearily. "Where?"

He couldn't believe that worked. "Homestar, I never said anything about marshmallows," Javier pretended to roll his eyes in exasperation. "I was telling you to get up for breakfast."

Homestar looked confused at this but got up anyway, holding onto the headboard for balance due to a blood rush. "I'll be out in a minute." He yawned, stumbling to the bedrooms bathroom.

Javier nodded and walked out. He had been right, Ms. Runner was moving through the kitchen at the speed any mom would have to go at to feed three teenage boys. Gerry had a sheet of printer paper and looked to be doodling furiously with a pencil. "Do you need any help Ms. Runner?" He asked.

She glanced over her shoulder at him before returning to her task. "No thank you hon. Just sit down and relax, It'll be done in a few minutes."

He shrugged in defeat and sat down next to Gerry. Homestar came out of the bedroom a minute later dressed in baggy gym shorts and a t-shirt proudly declaring 'Freedom Country Track Team' on the front. He still looked half asleep as he headed for the door with iPod and headphones in hand. "I'm going for a run." He yawned.

Ms. Runner gave him a small wave. "You're breakfast will be in the microwave, don't get hit by a car."

Javier returned to counting the knots of wood in the table as Homestar mumbled an "okay". He was distracted again by the sound of pencil on paper.

"Whatcha drawing there, Gerry?"

The boy looked up at him, a nervous fear in his eyes. "I'm naught supposed teu talk teu strangers."

"I'm Javier," He introduced himself again patiently. "We met yesterday."

He looked confused. "I don' reemeemba that…" He mumbled, giving the paper to him anyway.

Javier stared in disbelief at the "doodles". "Jesus Christ, are you an artist?!"

Gerry nodded, taking back the picture of his aunt. "Ay drew ah lat 'fore the accedent." He explained, smiling a little at the praise. "Ay leeke to drawr mare now cause ah don' naed to member anyting, it comes natually."

Looking back at the picture on the table, he shook his head in astonishment. Everything looked so real, the picture showing a mom that held a busy life as she multitasked but a smile at the same time, like she enjoyed the task. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun that let strands of hair fall in her face. One arm stretched gracefully above her head as she reached for a plate that was balanced precariously, while her other hand held the handle of a pan with an omelet in it. "Jesus Christ." He breathed again.

A plate with some slices of bacons and an omelet was placed in front of him and Gerry, who had moved his drawing in time.

"Breakfast is ready boys." She smiled at them before moving around the kitchen again, grabbing keys, purse, the whole shebang. "Gerry, you're enrolled in Michael's and Javier's high school; I'll buy the supplies you need when I'm coming home. Stay around Javier and don't wander off." She gave a quick kiss on his head, and then hugged Javier. "I've got to go to work."

"I thought you didn't work on weekends?" Javier questioned.

"Yeah, well." Ms. Runner paused at the front door, slipping on sandals. "I needed to pick up a few more jobs." Quickly she changed the subject. "Try to get some chores done, don't leave them all for tomorrow." Giving a quick goodbye wave, she closed the door and left.

They sat at the table in silence until the sound of tires on gravel faded away, and then continued to eat in that same quiet. Javier cleaned the dishes after they both finished, shooing Gerry off to the living room to do his own thing, then tidied up the kitchen. Homestar came back after an hour, cloths sticking to his skin as he grinned.

"I'm going to take a shower." Homestar chirped cheerfully, heading to the bathroom.

Javier finished cleaning and was playing Go Fish with Gerry on the couch while going over what the school was like by the time he had gotten out of the shower.

"The janitor is Mr. Ian Woon, but we call him The Poopsmith. Got any threes?" When Gerry shook his head he continued and drew another card. "The plumbing in our school is for crap, so the bathroom floods two or three times a week. The principal hired him specifically for that job, hence how he got the nickname." Javier looked up, finally realizing the other boy was there, and blinked. "There you are Homestar, I was beginning to think you had fallen and bust your head open."

Homestar laughed and sat next to him on the couch. "No, my heads intact." He looked around for a second. "Where's mom?"

Javier shrugged. "Off to work."

Homestar looked surprised. "But she doesn't work on weekends!"

"That's what she said." Javier gave Gerry a six and turned back. "Apparently she needed to pick up a few more jobs."

Looking perplexed, Homestar sat down next to Gerry and looked at his hand.

"Got any kings?"

"Gao feesh."

Javier picked up a few cards. "Man, I suck at this game."

Homestar smiled evilly and whispered something in Gerry's ear.

"Gaot any nines?"

"Aw come on," Javier complained. "That's cheating!"

Homestar just laughed and continued to help his cousin cheat his way through the game. Gerry won, and he gave up trying to beat him and stood up.

"As much fun as this is," He drawled. "I should run out for some groceries. Your mom left the list on the counter." Javier paused. "Can I trust you two not to burn down the house?"

They stared at him before shaking their heads.

"Right, stupid question." He shook his head and headed upstairs, quickly throwing on his normal black pants, a red long sleeve shirt, and then laced up his boots before going back downstairs. "I'll be back." He called to them before shutting the door.

The fall air was chilly and made him shiver. It was a relatively sunny day in the cheerful neighborhood, and he started walking the three blocks to the convenience store nearby. Javier never realized how close to the school Homestar lived. Bubs' place was open and quiet, only one or two people meandering about. Bubs, a large black man who seemed to have a permanent grin on his face, was watching them closely, but he did give Javier a wave.

The backroom of the concession store was larger than the actual store. It was the place where the kids from school went on Friday nights to dance. All other weekdays though, after school, you could see Coach Z and Bubs talking. Scrawny white man and big black guy as best friends? Go figure.

"What can I do for ya Strong Bad?" Bubs asked as he walked to the counter.

"Nothing." Javier said, leaning on the counter. "I needed to get out of the house so I decided to pick up some groceries."

A light bulb seemed to literally turn on over Bubs' head. "I rememba wonderin why you hadn't stopped by!" He exclaimed loudly, catching the attention of the two shoppers. "Coach Z said ya'll was missin when I asked, but when I saw that news report," he whistled. "I hadn't imagined it would be that serious!" Bubs nodded wisely. "Pretty lucky to have a friend like Homestar, even if he isn't the brightest bulb in the pack." Bubs paused, and then his grin got wider. "This is makin me so happy, I feel like dancing!" Indeed, Bubs backed a foot from the counter and started dancing. He seemed to like to do that a lot. Javier was aware of the two stares burning holes in his back.

"On that note Bubs," Javier said quickly, grabbing his bags. "I'm outta here." Bubs was still dancing by the time he practically ran out of the store. Typical Bubs, lets declare to the world how he survived. Feeling a stab of anger and guilt, he kicked a large rock and sent it flying further up the sidewalk. Why couldn't they have been rescued earlier? The children might have still been alive, instead of just him. Hell, the kids should have survived, not him! He was a stupid, no good, idiotic, rude teenager. They had a chance of going somewhere, doing something with their life. Javier kicked the stone again, a half-hearted attempt that was weighed with guilt.

Seeing the house coming up, he sighed and tried to push the thoughts out of his mind. Last thing he needed was Homestar worrying about him constantly.


	9. Chapter 8

**Interruption**

Hey everyone, another beautiful Monday morning, and I'm starting midterms today. Been studying all weekend so bleh. In other news, I've been watching Homestar Runner and remembering why I love it. I've also been working on another H*R fanfic and it will hopefully be done by the time I finish posting this story. If I like it, I'll put it on here to read. Keep your fingers crossed! Here's another story. So, I was editing about four nights ago (AKA rereading the WHOLE story) and I noticed something. The three times I mentioned Homestar's eyes, they changed colors! First it was brown, then blue, then green. I was laughing my butt off! I have more to say but this is enough for one Interruption. Onto commenting on comments!

ElevatorMusicINC- I do love Homestar's mom, and I don't blame you with Gerry. He confused ME! If you need translating, just send me an e-mail and I'll send you the translations ;).

Lightskaylaction- Hooray! And I'm sorry, but the name 'Smile with Me', I absolutely despised. I actually hated looking at my story for awhile because I didn't want to see the title. Sounded good the first time I said it, but definitely not the second time.

Efga- I know, It's hard to find good fanfics out there on H*R that's been finished. I'm glad you're enjoying it so much! Don't worry, you're actually not even halfway through this. But the story doesn't focus entirely on HR/SB so that's why it's so long. Most of it though. I understand the expressing of oneself at five in the morning, I usually type these interruptions at 3:30 to 4:00 in the morning on Monday. Meh.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 8**

Mirror in the bathroom  
recompense  
For all my crimes  
of self defense.  
Cures you whisper  
make no sense  
Drift gently into  
mental illness.

-The English Beat

Javier blinked at the boy in front of him as he stood on his tip toes to reach the doorbell again.

"Strong Bad, good to see you, man!" The Cheat slapped his shoulder and he winced. Drawing back quickly, he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, suppose you're not fully healed up yet."

"I'm fine." He lied, ignoring the throbbing from his shoulder. "Good to see you, too, The Cheat. What are you doing here?"

The Cheat followed him into the house, taking off his yellow spotted coat. "I wanted to make sure you were still alive!" He complained. "You're still not in school after three weeks, and then I **finally** learn where you're staying. Thought Dorkstar had kidnapped you when I first heard it."

Javier laughed. "No, they didn't kidnap me." He sat down on the couch. "You honestly think I would let that happen to me again?"

He grinned, sitting across from Javier and crossing his legs. "Okay, got a point there." Glancing at the piles of books and papers on the table, he shook his head in sympathy. "I feel sorry for ya, dude."

"Tell me about it." Javier griped. "I was too doped up on pain pills to do it in the hospital. Never going to get this crap done!" He sighed, trying to ignore the Calculus book glaring at him from the coffee table. "I'm not going to be done with this until the second coming!"

The Cheat snickered and looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Honestly." Javier placed his head in his hand. "You are the most perverted person I know. Do you have **any **morals?"

The Cheat shrugged. "Bro's before hoe's." He grumbled this like he was saying he was grounded for talking back to his parents.

"Speaking of bro's," Javier started, already anticipating the response. "We're going to stop picking on Homestar."

"What?!" Yup, The Cheat was staring at him as if he was crazy. Which he probably was, but that wasn't important. "What in the name of God are you talking about? Who are you and what have you done with Strong Bad?"

"Ha, ha," Javier grumbled, not amused. "But seriously, he is a good guy, and he saved my life. Even if we don't talk about it, we both know I would be dead if it wasn't for him."

The Cheat looked away uncomfortably, as if thinking about the incident was a forbidden subject, which it basically was. "Yeah, I know, but… Homestar?" He said the name like he was pleading for him to change his mind suddenly.

"Yes."

"No more locking him in the janitor's closet?"

"Nope."

"No more tripping him?"

"Nope."

"No more stink bombs in his locker?"

"No-wait. We never even did that."

"Oh yeah."

He looked as if he was going to continue arguing when Gerry came down the stairs yawning and rubbing his eyes sleepily, clad in blue train pajamas. "Gud marnin 'avear." He mumbled.

"Good morning Gerry." Javier greeted pleasantly, ignoring The Cheat's confused glance. "Come over here, I want you to meet a friend of mine."

The boy, now noticing The Cheat, immediately retreated into himself. His eyes got that nervous glance like he was looking for an escape route as he walked over slowly. Javier was going to feel sorry for him when he had to go to school tomorrow.

Looking at Javier for confirmation, he nodded. "You haven't met him before. This is my friend, The Cheat."

He seemed slightly relieved at that. "Hoi."

"Hi Gerry." The Cheat said, looking confused. Formal greeting out of the way, Gerry scuttled to the kitchen. The Cheat stared after him before glancing at the clock. "Not to be rude, but I have to go. I just dropped in for a quick hello." The walked to the door stoop and, making sure the door was fully closed so the boy inside the house couldn't hear him, he muttered, "Is everyone in this family a retard?"

Javier felt a flash of anger at Homestar being called a retard, but he ignored it. "He was in a car accident." He explained. "His parents died in the accident. Gerry had… moderate brain trauma, his head had cracked open the window when the other car hit. He's not slow, he's smart, but he can barely remember things. His speech was affected too." He felt satisfaction at the expression on The Cheat's face when he said this.

"Oh…" The Cheat looked guilty at what he had said, but didn't say sorry. They never did, their apologies didn't even need to be expressed in speech anymore. He seemed to struggle to find a new line of conversation. "No person can get a break in this fucked up world, can they?" He finally sighed, giving up and pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. Taking a deep drag, he blew a smoke ring. "One damn tragedy after another."

Shrugging weakly, Javier sat on the doorstep, running his hand through his hair helplessly. "It's crazy enough to make me want to start smoking. There must be some sort of relief in those things if so many people smoke them."

The Cheat shook his head vehemently. "No way man, I'm not letting you get started on these cancer sticks. These things will kill you faster than your grief ever will."

"What's your excuse then?" Javier asked bitterly, staring at the ground.

"Don't have one." He said glumly. "I don't enjoy it, but at the same time I do. I don't have the guts to quit but I'm not letting you get caught up in this shit."

Catching sight of the bags under The Cheat's eyes, he frowned. "Landlord kick you out?"

The Cheat nodded. "Yeah. At the moment I'm staying in the park. You know the one near our school? The tunnels the little brats are always crawling through are actually pretty comfy." He smiled weakly, eyes dull. "Heck, it's better than when I had to sleep in the principal's BBQ grill 'cause it was raining. Don't think anything can be worse that that. Smelled like ribs for the next week."

"Still can't believe you actually **fit** in there." Javier looked up again. "If you need something, just ask." He said. "Like washing your clothes, you can't wear the same thing for the whole year."

Nodding, The Cheat gave a wave and started walking in the direction towards the school. "I better see you Monday; else I'll keep annoying you!"

Smiling, he waved goodbye. He spent a few minutes sitting, watching cars pass by and people walk their dogs. The postman gave him a weird look as he handed Javier the mail. Had he never seen a guy before? True, he didn't have a shirt on, but he rarely ever did. He didn't stop to consider the man was staring at the scars, because he was used to seeing them now.

The first drops of rain started to fall when the dark green jeep pulled into the driveway. Homestar and Ms. Runner jumped out of the car, running inside before the real downpour started. Javier followed them in as well, noting to himself that Gerry as eating the omelet he made for him. Homestar was dressed in a suit and tie and Ms. Runner an orange and black fall-themed dress.

"How was church?" He asked, leaning against the counter and nibbling on a cold cream cheese bagel.

"Same old, same old." Ms. Runner said, placing her handbag on the counter. "Preach love and forgiveness, don't hate, nothing new." She looked at Javier. "Anything happen while we were gone?"

He shrugged. "A friend dropped by to say hi, otherwise nothing."

Homestar looked over. "Who was the friend?"

"The Cheat."

Homestar nodded and Ms. Runner continued to speak as she got ready. "Dr. Johnson was asking how you're doing, are you still having nightmares?"

"Not really." Javier said. He neglected to tell them that the night before, he had made a barricade of pillows in the middle of the bed, and he had had a nightmare. "Where did you see him?"

"At church." She replied. "Michael pointed him out to me while we were there. I've got to go, boys. Javier, make sure you get homework done, Michael, get chores done, Gerry, stay close to one of them." She walked quickly out of the house and the sound of the car's tires over the rain was heard for a few seconds before the car pulled out.

"Don't want to do homework." Javier grumbled, heading to the living room.

"Good luck!" Homestar teased, already washing the dishes.

* * *

_"You belong to me." The voice whispered. Javier shivered as the hand ghosted over his skin, bile rising in his throat. He was turned over roughly onto his back, his body limp as a doll and screaming with pain. The hand trailed down his chest again and he tried to twist away, only to be positioned again. "Mine." Javier's throat felt on fire as he screamed, a searing pain trailing along his abdomen._

_The knife drew red pearls of blood that clung to its edge and spilled over, sliding down his skin to gather in the pool of various bodily fluids growing on the floor. Taut muscles parted neatly under the path of the blade._

_"Mine."_

* * *

Javier woke up with a gasp, tears pricking his eyes and chest heaving for breath. He jumped up and ran towards the bathroom, quickly closing the door and heaving into the bowl. Those hands, he could still feel **his **hands. His skin crawled at the dream as he stood up, stumbling back into bathroom counter and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Waiting a few moments to catch his breath he turned around and started to brush his teeth again. Even after he was done he stood staring at himself in the mirror for a few minutes. Slowly, his hand lowered to touch his abdomen, his fingers running over the lines in the skin.

_"Mine."_

He let out a wordless yell, slamming his fist into the mirror and backing away from his now million reflections, with his eyes tightly shut and tears streaming. Slamming into the wall, he grabbed his hair with both hands and slid down to the ground. Javier rocked slightly back and forth, shaking and whispering to himself, voice unintelligible due to the chocked sobs and cries of anger and the sound of Homestar pounding frantically on the bathroom door.


	10. Chapter 9

**Interruption**

Another beautiful Monday morning, only today, I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL! HOORAY! Me and my friend have been playing nothing but video games (aka, I'm helping her play Wind Waker because she's new to video games.) If you're reading this, send her some words of encouragement in a review I can read to her, because she believes she's horrid at playing. Here's two options I want all of you to tell me in your review. Either 1.) Tell your story of playing your first game, or your first time playing a game you STUNK at. The second option is, 2.) Tell me how you first found Homestar Runner, and how you got obsessed. If you do both stories I'll give you a cookie.

My story for how I got obsessed, my eighth grade teacher would show Strong Bad emails to us during free time. It took me a year to actually get obsessed with it, but during my free time at lunch I started watching emails, and it's progressed since then. Good news people! I got my two Homestar Runner shirts, hoozah!

Disclaimer- I don't own Homestar Runner or it's characters, they belong to the Chapman brothers! Our gods!

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 9**

And an even greater undersound

of a vast confusion in the universe

-Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"Javier, Javier," Ms. Runner sighed as she wrapped his knuckles in bandages. "Am I going to have to go over-protective mother on you?"

He ducked his head, ashamed. The glass shards in the bowl next to him showed thousands of reflections and caused light to dance on the walls. "No ma'am, Homestar's doing that for you." Homestar hovered around like a mother hen, constantly asking if he would be okay. The adrenaline of waking up to Javier's scream and the sound of breaking glass seemed to have not worn off. "Homestar, for the love of God, I'm **fine**. Now stop pacing, you're making me antsy."

One hand bandaged, Ms. Runner moved onto the next hand with a pair of tweezers. "What in the world were you dreaming about that scared you to break my mirror?"

Javier didn't respond, wrapping his bandaged arm around his abdomen where the word was carved.

Homestar saw this and seemed to break. Slamming his fist on the coffee table, he shouted "That bastard shouldn't be able to get away with this!" He stood up and started pacing again, not because of worry but because of the primal need to hunt down the man who had done this. His eyes burned with an unmatched fury and his fists kept clenching and unclenching.

Ms. Runner patted his other, now wrapped, hand. Only a few shards had gotten impaled in his palm, where he had pushed himself up from the floor. "All done Javier." She said tiredly. "Now, I want you to go back to bed. You don't have to sleep; read a book or something. Okay?" Javier nodded and she stood up. "Good, I'm going back to bed. I still have four hours of sleep."

Each went to their respective room, or couch. As Javier was slipping back under the covers, he noticed Homestar. "What the hell are you doing with those pillows?"

Homestar looked up at him from where he was removing the barricade of pillows. "I was awake." He sated simply. "When I woke up I let go of you and grabbed onto the pillow. I also know you didn't have any nightmares that night."

Javier felt his cheeks burning. Shit, he had been awake? "So?"

Homestar didn't respond, just getting into the bed, pulling Javier into the same position he had woken up in the night before.

Feeling his blush grow hotter, he hissed "Let go of me Homestar!" He didn't move and Javier worked on getting his least injured hand free, punching him as hard as he could.

He winced, but refused to move. "I'm not letting you have nightmares if there is something I can do to stop them." He gritted out. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Javier huffed angrily and wiggled around so his back was against Homestar's chest instead. The arms around him relaxed and took this as a sign he had given up.

"'Night Strong Bad." Javier ignored him, sulking like a child.

* * *

"Strong Bad, those weren't there when I left you yesterday." The Cheat, similar to Homestar at 2 am, was going mother hen. "What the hell did you do to yourself now!?"

Kids shoved and pushed around them to get to their lockers and talk to friends. Javier stepped out of the way as a group of boys passed by. "Nightmare." He stated simply. "I broke the mirror in the bathroom, cut myself by accident."

The Cheat stared at him like he was going to start freaking out and punching the closest thing to him. "Anyway," He said, trying to change the subject. "Ms. Reigns told me to tell you to stop by her classroom. She wanted to talk to you about something."

"I suppose I should go do that now, huh?" At his nod he sighed. "Okay, I'll see you later in class." Waving goodbye, Javier started walking toward the classroom, wondering what she wanted.

"Come in." Javier opened the door and stuck his head in. Ms. Reigns looked up from the computer screen and smiled. "Mr. Strong, I'm glad you're feeling better."

Javier nodded his thanks, he was also grateful he didn't have to wear a sling anymore, and walked in, standing in front of her desk. "You needed to see me?"

She nodded. "Yes, I did. I wanted to talk to you about the website project you received a while ago?"

"**Shit**, I forgot all about that!"

"Stop panicking." She ordered. "I'm excusing you from the assignment."

Javier blinked in surprise.

Ms. Reigns continued. "If you still want to do it, and you can catch up, I'll excuse you from the rest of this class's assignments that you've missed."

He nodded. "'Kay, when would it be due?"

She tapped her pen against the desk, thinking. "Three weeks?" She offered. "Half the time, but no other work would be due from me."

"You've got a deal Ms. Reigns." Javier agreed as first bell rang through the hallways.

* * *

"Freedom!" About a minute after the last bell rang, a teenager burst through the front doors of the school to the world outside. He ran a few feet, paused, threw his hands in the air and shouted again, "Sweet freedom!" At this declaration he started running down the sidewalk away form the school as fast as he could, laughing insanely all the way.

Javier stared after the boy, blinking in confusion. "What the crap just happened?"

"That," Homestar explained simply. "Is Tim."

"The guy they found having a tea party with himself on the roof of the school? Did they ever figure out how he got up there?"

"Yup." He nodded. "He does this every day. You stay after school and you see these sorts of things. And no, they never did figure that out." They started walking towards the field. "Anyway," He continued. "I've got track after school today, so you don't mind staying here 'til I'm done do you?"

He shook his head. "No problem, I'll just get homework done while I'm waiting. What about Gerry?"

"I wrote a message in his planner to meet us at the bleachers."

Javier paused and looked back. "I should probably go back and make sure he knows where the bleachers are."

Homestar looked surprised and guilty at forgetting about that little trouble. "Dammit, I forgot. I should probably come too."

"It's okay." He said, already walking back to the school. "I don't want you to be late for practice, get going."

Closing the door behind him, he started walking through the now empty hallways. One or two kids, stragglers, were shoving the last of their books in their packs before making a run for the buses getting ready to leave outside. He passed his locker, then Homestar's, Marzipan's, Pom Pom's, The Cheat's-

Javier paused at The Cheat's locker, looking at it suspiciously. Knowing the combination, he went over and opened it. There was a cry of surprise as the boy fell out from the inside of the bottom locker. Landing with an 'oomph!'. He looked up at Javier with sleepy eyes. "Hey Strong Bad."

"Any reason you're sleeping in your locker?" He asked dryly, helping him up.

He stretched. "Not really. Some of the football players were roughhousing in the hallway. One of them pushed the other and didn't notice me, so I was knocked into my locker. Another kid accidently closed it. I decided to take a nap while I was in there, the heat's nice." As if remembering it was after school, he looked at Javier confused. "What are you still doing here?"

"Homestar's got track." He explained.

The Cheat shook his head. "I swear you two have been joined at the hip lately. Good thing I know you're not gay."

Javier laughed nervously at this, kicking himself internally as The Cheat gave him a weird look. "Even if I was a fag," He tried to redeem himself. "You think I would go after a bozo like him?"

Still staring at him with a raised brow, The Cheat nodded. "Yeah… Well, just be careful, gossip spreads like wildfire through this school." He changed the subject quickly. "Anyway, you coming to Bub's place this Friday? Been lonely without ya."

He grinned. "Of course, it's not a party without me!" Javier started walking down the hallway again. "I've got to go, have to make sure Gerry's found his way to the bleachers."

"Later man!" The Cheat called back. Looking longingly at the locker, he sighed and grabbed his backpack to head to the park.

* * *

Javier knocked on the back door, waiting patiently and tapping his foot to the faint rhythm pulsing through the walls. The door opened and Bubs poked his head out, the music magnifying tenfold. "Strong Bad, come on in!" He opened the door wider and Javier walked in, letting his eyes adjust. His ears pounded with the beat of the music and lights flashed, changing color at every beat. He could see The Cheat up high on the small stage with the equipment. His gold tooth flashed in a grin as he waved Javier over.

Avoiding the main dance floor, he walked around the crowds to where the podium was.

"Strong Bad, glad you could make it!" The Cheat called down to him, voice almost drowned out by the music.

Javier pulled himself up onto the small platform, only enough room for two people, or someone that was Bub's size. The stage was only about 4 feet off the ground but it gave a hawk eyes view of the whole place. The Cheat grinned at him from atop a large chair, which was needed for him to see over the top. "Same here."

The Cheat glanced around. "Where's Dorkstar? Figured he would tag along."

He snorted. "What do you think I am, his keeper?" At The Cheats blank stare, he sighed. "He's at home with Gerry."

"Ah." Starting a new song, he turned back to him. "Now get outta my spotlight." The Cheat joked. "Go buy a drink, talk to some hot girls, dance, talk to some hot girls…"

Javier jumped down after being shooed off, grunting at the impact. A flash of pain shot through his legs and he grit his teeth and leaned against the wall for support so he didn't fall down. Okay, it was obvious he wasn't fully healed. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself off the wall and started walking to the drink station, stumbling once.

Behind the drink counter a young man was making a virgin pina colada for a girl. On closer inspection he realized it was The Cheat's computer class partner, Brittney. Sitting down next to her, he ordered Pepsi. Brittney smiled at him. "Strong Bad, good to see you in class this week. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Fine." He dismissed quickly. "How about you and Joscelyn?"

"Same." She agreed. "Jos is dancing so I decided to come get a drink and chat. So where's Homestar?"

He threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "Why does everyone think he would be with me?"

"Because you two are dating?" At Javier's look of loathing, she paused. "Shit, you must not have realized you like each other yet. Ah well, you would figure that out eventually anyway."

Javier sputtered indignantly. "What would make you think I **like** him that way?!"

"You two have been following each other around like lost puppies." Brittney explained this to him as a kindergarten teacher to a five year old. "Well, Homestar's been for the past two years, but I suppose you never realized that did you?"

"He's liked me that long?" He asked in shock.

She nodded. "Maybe longer, I just didn't notice until then. Didn't you notice he's never dated anyone, even though thousands of girls have asked? Even some boys?"

He sat in silence, comprehension dawning on him. She was right.

As he sat there in a stunned silence another girl bounced over with a grin. Draping her arms around Brittneys shoulders, she gave a wave to Javier. "Hey, Strong Bad, what's shaking?" The dark haired brunette gave a quick kiss on the top of Brittney's head.

She smiled and looked up at her. "I'm guessing you came to drag me dancing?"

"Heck ya!" Joscelyn finished Brittney's drink at the offer and pulled her up, waving goodbye as they both headed to the dance floor.

Javier sat there for a few minutes as he finished his drink, throwing it away when he was done and standing up. A girl winked at him from where she was dancing, but he looked away, feeling cowed by the earlier realization. He made his way towards the exit when the crowds started surging around him. His breathing hyped as someone bumped into him, causing him to flinch away and try and make his way through the crowd faster. His head was starting to spin and his breathing shortened at the beginning of a panic attack. "I've got to leave." He said, not giving Bub's a chance to respond as he practically ran out of the door.

Closing the door quickly, he leaned against it as he took gulps of the cool night air. The sun must not have gone down more than an hour ago. Javier pushed his way off the door and took a few steps before stopping. He tried to will himself to continue walking but he couldn't. His feet were connected to the pavement. Pulling out his cell, he dialed the seven numbers and waited for the other person to pick up with shaking hands.

"Hello?" The voice asked into the receiver, confused.

Javier shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, Homestar? Can you come by Bub's place?"

There was a swift response. "Of course, I'll be right there." They hung up.

He stood there in thought. Homestar didn't ask any questions. He didn't even hesitate.

Javier saw Homestar come jogging down the street after about three minutes, carrying a jacket. "Here." Homestar gave Javier the jacket. "I thought you might be cold." Javier nodded gratefully and thanked him. "Did you have a good time?" He asked cheerfully, obviously trying to ignore the frazzled appearance of Javier.

He lied through his teeth, just as Homestar had expected him to. "Of course." Javier remembered why he had enjoyed going to Bub's place before, but it hadn't been as enjoyable this time. "Thanks for coming." He mumbled, embarrassed.

Homestar smiled at him. "You're my friend Strong Bad; I'll do anything for you."

He didn't respond to that.


	11. Chapter 10

**Interruption**

Morning everyone, heads up, I might not be able to update next week. If I can't, I'll update as soon as I get back. So... By the way, was I the ONLY one who didn't realize The Musachan on this website was the one who made Opposites Attract with ChakramChucker?! I feel like an idiot... And another thing, what in the WORLD does Homestar say in his character video at the end? My perverted mind makes it out to be 'butt sex butt sex', but I highly doubt that's it.

Lightskaylaction- I spend a bunch of time playing so I'm pretty good, but my friend thanks you for telling her she's not the only one horrid at playing. Interesting story too! Here's your cookie for answering both stories!

Chibimushroom- Yay! Thank you, that's what I was aiming for, enjoy this chapter!

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 10**

"All I need is the character designs and I can get to work," Homestar put the papers on the living room table. "I have a layout idea, designs, character interviews, and introductions; basically everything is ready."

"This is great!" Javier exclaimed, leaning on Homestar's shoulder. "I have some ideas, though they're rough drafts, they'll work."

He grinned at the praise and looked up at the Hispanic male. "I was wondering…" Starting off strongly, the question started to trail off hesitantly. Javier encouraged him with a nod. "Maybe we could include Homsar?" Homestar quickly tried to offer a reason. "I was thinking with him being so shy, this would be a good way for him to meet new people." He paused. "Sorry, that's a stupid-"

"Homestar, it's okay. He would be really funny. People would love Homsar." Javier didn't stop to contemplate Homsar's—Gerry's—new name. Once people learned that Homsar was related to Homestar, the nickname was immediately given. It stuck, and by a week he wasn't known as Gerry anymore except by Ms. Runner.

Homestar nodded, the grin returning. "Thanks," He said, relieved. "I'll go check with him to make sure it's okay." He raced up the stairs and Javier shook his head, sitting in the computer chair. He had finished scanning the drawings by the time Homestar came back down. "Homsar said it was okay!" He said enthusiastically, running to Javier's side. "If you want, I can go out with the mike and start recording voices for the interviews."

Javier shooed him off. "If you got the script, don't waste your time here! We've got a lot of ground to cover!"

Nodding, Homestar raced out of the house. A few seconds passed before he ran back in to grab the equipment he forgot before leaving again.

They worked furiously for the rest of the day, getting all but three interviews done by the time the day was rolling round five in the afternoon., Homestar, Homsar, and himself left. Going with extremes and assumptions, they made Homestar and Marzipan a couple, Couch Z slept on the locker room bench, Strong Sad was more so a recluse than normal, Marzipan an independent extremist, and The King of Town, who was really the principal, was a food-a-holic. Homestar hadn't been able to find Pom Pom, the Poopsmith or The Cheat, so they had to substitute voices. Javier did Strong Mad's voice and was trying so hard not to laugh. With everyone done except them, they worked on the poster boy first.

"Oh, hello! Gweetings one and evewyone, welcome to me! Homestaw!… Wunnew!… Homestaw Wunnew. Uhm… What else? I pwetty much wun the show awound hewe. I have the only guwl, the only pwopellew cap, and can wun and kick and jump the fastest and highest and like no body's business. If I could pick one wowd to decwibe myself, it would pwobably be… Fwuffy Puff Mawshmallows… Or Homestaw. Eithew one weally. The both wowk."

"Don't forget moron!" Javier added into the microphone.

"Oh yeah, that too. In closing, I look good in wed. Check it out."

Javier barely had time to turn off the recording equipment before they both collapsed in fits of laughter. Leaning up on his elbow, he chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye. "You're speech impediment is great!"

"That's gweat!" Homestar paused. "I mean, that's great!"

He snickered as Homestar shifted back normal. "We should do mine next."

Homestar looked at the clock. "Lets make some dinner first, I'm starving!"

Nodding in agreement, Javier stood up and headed to the kitchen. "Me too. I'll make some pizza, want to help?" Both worked side by side do make the pizza from scratch, and they were covered in while powdery flour by halfway through.

"Bet you ten bucks I can spin in this in the air."

"Doubt it, it's practically impossible."

Homestar gave a chance at it anyway, throwing the disk of uncooked dough into the air, only to have it fall on his head.

Javier snickered and lifted it off to chuckle at Homestar's embarrassed grin. "Nice," He laughed. Placing the dough back onto the counter, he looked back at him. "Hold on." He said, leaning forward. "You've got a bit of dough in your hair." Homestar's eyes crossed as they followed his hand up to his hair. Snatching the bit of dough, he threw it in the trash can. "There."

"Thanks." He started to spread pizza sauce on it, smiling.

"You want extra cheese, or extra extra cheese?" He asked, pulling out a bag of; guess what, cheese, from the fridge.

Homestar screwed the top of the pizza sauce jar back on and handed it to Javier to put in the fridge again. "Long as here's plenty of pepperoni!"

"And sausage!" Javier was starting to stand up from where he was leaning in to grab the sausage when their lips connected, as Homestar had been leaning in to grab the pepperoni. His lips were really soft, Javier noted in the second of bliss before he started to panic as the face changed.

_Senor Cardgage's tongue forced its way into his mouth, tasting of beer and cigarettes. Javier's cry of pain was muffled as the man yanked harshly on his member, and tears left streaks on his face as his struggles grew more desperate._

"Strong Bad! Strong Bad, I'm sorry, it was an accident!" Javier blinked the tears from his eyes and looked up at Homestar's concerned face, who was leaning on his knee a foot away. He was curled into a fetal position with his hands over his head protectively, shaking uncontrollably. He must have looked terrified because Homestar looked ready to kick himself at the accidental kiss. "God I'm so sorry Strong Bad. I'm a clumsy idiot!"

Keeping his distance from the other male to keep from triggering any other memories, Javier pulled himself up by the counter and said hoarsely "I'm okay Homestar, calm down." He looked at the grief-stricken boy and forced a smile. "See? I'm fine. Come on, let's finish that pizza." Javier reached out his hand to pull Homestar onto his feet before hesitating and pulling it back, turning to the pizza with averted eyes.

Homestar had seemed sad about that but apparently understood, since he said nothing and stood up by himself. They finished it in silence and put it in the oven about ten minutes later, waiting at the kitchen table for it to cook. Javier jumped at a knock on the door and quickly went to get it, using any excuse to do something while they waited. The Cheat grinned and walked in. "I smell pizza!"

Looking up at The Cheat, Homestar smiled. "Hey The Cheat."

He looked like he was ready to tease Homestar, for one reason or another, before remembering what Strong Bad had been telling him for the past week. "What's up Homestar?" He finally said, biting back the taunt. The boy just shrugged and The Cheat turned his attentions back to Javier. "Why in the world are you both covered in flour?" He asked, looking him up and down with a raised brow.

"The reason is in the oven." Javier said, sitting back at the table and nodding for The Cheat to sit down too. Biting back his snickers, he asked cheerfully "Would you like a book to sit on?"

The Cheat grumbled a 'yes', only the top of his head visible over the table top. "Don't be such a smartass." The Cheat muttered. "You're not that tall either."

"Am too!" Javier protested.

"Please," The Cheat snorted. "You're five foot six; you're no taller than the girls at our school. Homestar, stand up so he can see what I mean by the height difference."

Homestar stood up and Javier stood up, glaring up at the other boy. "Well he's like, six feet." Javier huffed.

"Six foot two." He corrected absentmindedly. Javier just sat back down and glowered at them both, much to The Cheat's amusement.

"It's okay." The Cheat joked. "Maybe if you drink enough milk you'll grow big and strong like your friend there." He eeped and ducked as one of Javier's boots were thrown at his head.

The buzzer dinged, giving Javier a reason to get up and get his boot for his now cold foot. Pulling the pizza out of the oven he took a deep breath and grinned. "This smells great!" The Cheat and Homestar watched as he pulled plates and towels out of cabinets. "Fine." Javier sighed. As two dogs given the okay to chase after a squirrel, The Cheat and Homestar lunged at the pizza and started devouring it like hungry wolves. "Jesus Christ!" He managed to save two pieces for Homsar before the whole thing was devoured.

Homestar belched loudly and grinned, embarrassed. "Excuse me."

The Cheat didn't respond, burping louder to try and beat Homestar. "I win." He said smugly.

Javier rolled his eyes at them, putting their dishes in the sink. "While you two are having your burping competition," He drawled. "I'm going to bring Homsar's pizza to him."

Homestar blinked in astonishment. "Is he still up there doing his art stuff?"

"Are you really that oblivious?" Javier teased him before walking up the stairs. The wooden board creaked under him in protest and he reminded himself to head to the gym and practice on the punching bag, he was probably getting out of shape. He knocked on the door and received no response. "Homsar?" He asked, knocking again. The voice sounded surprised on the other side, but said he could come in.

Pieces of paper were scattered around the room and Homsar looked over at him from Homestar's desk. "Hoi Stroung Bad." Homsar said cheerfully.

"Hey Homsar." Javier placed the plate next to his work and shook his head at the drawings scattered. "I wish I could draw like this."

"Ta grass es aways geener on ta oder siede."

Javier just shook his head again and pat him on the back. "Whatever you say Homsar, don't forget to clean when you're done. Bring your plate down when you're finished." He closed the bedroom door behind him and walked back downstairs.

The Cheat was just slamming down Homestar's hand when Javier came down. "Two out of three, I win." He said smugly, leaning back in his chair.

Homestar ignored him and looked up when Javier walked in. "How is he doing up there?" He asked.

"Fine." Javier dismissed. "Just drawing, big surprise." His nose started to tickle and he sneezed, managing to grab a tissue from the tissue box on the counter.

Homestar watched him as he threw it away. "You've been sneezing a lot since yesterday, are you getting sick?" He asked. Javier shook his head but sneezed again and Homestar frowned. "Get into bed; I'll bring you some medicine."

He grumbled that he was fine but went to the bedroom anyway, he **was** feeling tired, even though he had been sleeping okay for a while now. The Cheat must have left by the time Homestar came in with the pills, because he couldn't hear or see anyone through the door.

Homestar placed a large cup of water on the bed stand next to him along with some cough syrup and two pills. Javier sat up and quickly swallowed the nasty stuff and wrinkled his nose at the taste. Homestar waited until he had seen Javier swallow it all before standing up again. "I'm going to be in the shower, need to wash all this flour off." He started heading to the bathroom. "Don't worry, I already cleaned the rest of the kitchen. Don't get up from that bed."

Javier rolled his eyes and flipped on the TV.

* * *

When Homestar came back out Strong Bad had just drifted off to sleep, Tom and Jerry racing around the screen. The corner of his mouth twitched upward in a smile and Homestar slipped under the covers in clean clothes, watching the cartoon and propping up two pillows for his head. He didn't want to risk that Strong Bad would wake up from nightmares.

The boy mumbled incoherently as the bed shifted from the new weight on the springs, and he rolled over and draped an arm over Homestar's stomach, quieting down. He smiled softly and brushed a strand of black hair out of his eyes, tucking it behind his ear. Homestar sort of wished he could do this while Strong Bad was awake, but that was never going to happen. Strong Bad was as straight as a board, and he was supposed to be a friend.

A small part of him thought he should just tell him, but that was a stupid idea, especially after the incident. If Strong Bad reacted that badly to just an accidental kiss, how would he react to his little crush?

Homestar instantly started feeling depressed, a hopelessness crushing his heart. He had wanted to be with him since he first moved here four years ago. One of those, wanted-to-meet-you-as-soon-as-I-first-saw-you, things. He couldn't call it love; he didn't know what that was when he was fourteen. He thought Strong Bad was pretty, though he wouldn't **dare** utter it out loud. That would get him a broken nose for sure. Homestar had wondered for a while why he wasn't interested in any of the girls but wasn't surprised when he just figured out he was gay.

He went back to watching the cartoon, ignoring the feeling of hopelessness that swelled.


	12. Chapter 11

**Interruption**

Yeah, so... Finally over the halfway mark! There are twenty chapters along with a short epilogue. And now we have the drama. One of the things you learn with NaNoWriMo is that you'll do ANYTHING to get to 50,000 words. That's allowed, anyway... Which is why the drama is at home here. And you have no idea how many scenes I actually edited out! In other news, I like how the other story is coming along. I want it to be as long as this one or longer. By the way, if there is **ANYONE **out there that speaks Swedish, please contact me. My e-mail is herewithstupid at gmail. com . I would like to know that someone could tell me what the translations are for some things if I need them, and I don't exactly trust Babbelfish. By the way, YES! HAVOC is making a Wow/H*R verse fic! I'm so happy, this gave me so much fricken motivation to write yesterday! Like... Ten pages or so of motivation :D. _Hopetheyupdatesoonsquee! _Actually... HOLY SHOOT CHAPTER 3 IS UP BYE PEOPLE!

**The Musachan- **Awww D:. You know,_ I like butt sex better-_I wasn't saying anything! It's okay about the reviewing ;P I'm horrid at remembering as well.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 11**

To bear a weight that cannot be borne,  
Sisyphus, even you aren't that strong,  
Although your heart cannot be torn  
Time is short and Art is long.

-Charles Baudelaire

"Homestar get the hell off of me!" Strong Bad snarled, pushing him away before coughing.

Should have known the peace wouldn't last long. "Technically, you were on me; I wasn't doing anything."

Strong Bad's face got red and he glared at Homestar, the effect was lost when he coughed again. "Ugh." He groaned. "Can you get me some tissues? And possibly more water?"

Homestar nodded and stood up, pulling the covers off. As he turned on the water to fill the glass he sneezed violently, spilling half the water that had been in the cup over his hand. Crap.

"Thanks." Strong Bad muttered, blowing into a tissue he pulled out of the box and dumping it in the plastic bag next to the bed. He was about to take a drink of water when he gave Homestar a weird look. "You're shivering." He noted. "You aren't getting sick too are you?"

Homestar shrugged. "Hope not." He said worriedly. "I have a cross country meet this Wednesday, I need to be healthy!" Chewing his bottom lip, he slipped back under the covers. It was warm, unlike the cold house.

Strong Bad offered a possible reason. "Maybe you've gotten it from me. We were cooking a pizza that you and The Cheat devoured. Maybe the pizza was infected." He paused to think about this. "Does that mean The Cheat's sick too?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure." Homestar mumbled.

Giving him a concerned look, Strong Bad asked "Are you okay man? You're looking a little green around the gills."

He was going to answer when he stopped, going pale and jumping out of bed to run to the bathroom. Homestar heaved into the bowl and his skin got a cold sweat. He could hear Strong Bad rushing to make sure he was okay and he wished he would just stay in bed.

It was comforting when Strong Bad rubbed his back, but he wished the other didn't have to see this. When he was done he slumped against the wall, Strong Bad getting a wash cloth and wiping off his face. "Strong Bad, I'm fine." Homestar said stubbornly. The other just ignored him and finished cleaning his face before guiding him back to the bed.

"You need anything?" Strong Bad asked.

_You. _Homestar wished he could say something as sappy as the thought that just passed through his head. Probably the fever. Did he even have a fever? Instead he shook his head. "No. Maybe something fun to do. The worst thing about being sick is when there's nothing to do." Homestar groaned.

He thought for a moment. "Well, what's fun?" He finally asked.

"I would invite Strong Sad over for a board game." Homestar mused. "But we shouldn't get him sick too. We've already probably taken down The Cheat."

Strong Bad seemed offended. "What? Am I not good enough to play board games with you? No, go ahead and call Strong Sad. He'd probably be glad to get sick." Homestar started to babble an apology hurriedly and he laughed. "Just kidding man, what do you want to play?"

Homestar sighed in relief. "The game of Life is pretty fun." He started to get up to get it but Strong Bad pushed him back down, getting up instead and leaving the room. He came in about a minute later and they both started setting up the board and playing.

"You going to college?" Homestar asked casually, moving his car five spaces around the college section of the board.

Strong Bad shook his head. "I'm not the type for college; I'm heading straight to work."

Homestar gave him an astonished look. "Really? What are you planning on being?"

Strong Bad just shrugged. "Not sure, I'll figure it out when the time comes."

He frowned a little in worry but just spun and moved his car again.

* * *

"Where are you heading off to?" Strong Bad asked from the bed, looking up from his homework. After Thursday the cold had broken, at least for himself. Homestar had been hit the hardest with it but he had recovered fastest.

He considered if telling Strong Bad was the wisest move. "I'm going out on a date." He finally said, running a brush through his hair quickly.

Strong Bad stared at him wish wide eyes and spluttered. "What?"

Homestar winced, feeling guilty. "Marzipan said I needed to go out with someone." He muttered. "So she set me up on a date." Well, that was the truth, wasn't it? He didn't mention it was because of his crush on him. Marzipan had finally gotten sick of watching Homestar yearn after someone who was deemed 'impossible' and told him he needed to kick himself into action or she was going to do it for him. She was being a good friend, he supposed. She didn't want to see him waste his life.

The other boy went silent and stared at the TV, not seeming to actually watch it.

"Strong Bad?" Homestar asked, slipping on his shoes to leave. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He snapped, staring stubbornly at the T.V. "Go have fun."

Homestar's gut twisted but he nodded, leaving the room in silence as his friend glared laser beams into the screen. What had him riled up?

"No, stop that." Homestar muttered to himself, brushing imaginary dust off his pants. "You need to try and enjoy yourself, don't think about him."

He read a book in the kitchen for about five minutes until the silver car pulled up outside. It was a humble car, a simple silver Kia Optima, but it was nice. About a minute later the doorbell rang and Homestar answered it. The man smiled when he opened the door. "You must be Michael then." He said smoothly. "I'm Peter."

Homestar nodded, not used to being called by his birth name. He recognized Peter from the swim team. He was about six foot one, almost beating himself, and had curly dirty blonde hair with blue eyes. He had a nice smile and butterflies briefly fluttered in his stomach. "Nice to meet you, Peter." Homestar said curtly, shaking his hand before walking with him to his car.

The other held the door open for him and he blushed, getting into the car and buckling himself in as Peter walked to the other side and got in. "So…" He started. "Where you taking me today?"

"I was thinking all of the cliché stuff." Peter joked. "Movies, dinner, moonlight walk in the park."

Homestar nodded. "That sounds perfect. I wonder what sort of movies are out?" He wondered to himself.

"Well, there's Saw five."

_Wow, subtle._ Homestar thought dryly. He didn't handle scary movies very well… But he would be a wuss if he backed out. Anyways, maybe the fifth one was less gory than the other four? _Just keep telling yourself that._ "Eh, okay. That'll work." Good thing they were going to eat **after** the movie.

Peter grinned and pulled up to the movie theater, since it wasn't very far away. "Great!" When Homestar started to pull out his wallet he shook his head. "No you don't, I'm paying for this." Indeed, he paid for it, and he kept feeling more embarrassed as Peter obviously tried to woo him. "Let's get seats in the back of the theater." He suggested coyly, carrying the popcorn. Homestar nodded hesitantly, taking a sip of his Mountain Dew.

They took a seat in the last row, everyone else that came to see the movie filing ahead. They were a few minutes early so they chatted about school stuff. Peter apparently had come out to his girlfriend two years ago and they were still friends. She would occasionally set Peter up with dates. That girlfriend knew Marzipan so they had set them up on the date. Eventually the movie started and Homestar blanched at the scenes, holding onto the armrests tightly. Peter gave him a worried look and grabbed the hand closest to him, squeezing it reassuringly.

Homestar congratulated himself by the time they walked out for not throwing up, face still pale. "Hey, I'm sorry." Peter apologized. "I didn't realize it would bother you **that** much."

He just nodded, enjoying the feel of holding someone's hand, even if he couldn't **t****echnically** feel it. It was a nice change. "So, where should we eat?" He asked.

Peter let out a 'hmm' and looked around. "How about we drive around until you see something you like?" He offered. "I'm not that picky."

"I'm kind of in the mood for Chinese. That sound good?"

They found a Chinese take-out about a block away from the theater and picked up some food, bringing the meal to the park to eat. By now it was around ten o' clock and stars were starting to appear in the sky._ Are all dates this nice? _He wondered, pointing out his favorite constellations. Peter had casually slipped his arm around his shoulders and he leaned against the others chest.

Peter pointed out Orion. "That's my favorite constellation, mostly because it's the easiest to find." He laughed.

"There's my constellation." Homestar said, tracing five stars with his finger outstretched. "I'm an Aries. What about you?"

"Ah, the ram. I'm a Leo lion. I was born July 25th."

Homestar nodded. "I'm March 24th." He paused to look at the height of the moon. "What time is it?"

Peter glanced at his clock. "Already 10:50? Geeze time flies."

He sat up and stretched, shivering at the onslaught of cold air. "I should probably head home."

He nodded and they went to the car, the drive was quiet and peaceful and Homestar was close to falling asleep. He had never been a night person; he liked the mornings, even if it took him a few minutes to wake up fully. When they got to the house Peter walked him to the door and they shared a quick goodbye kiss. A small spark made him shiver and before he knew it their lips had disconnected. Peter waved goodbye and waited to leave until Homestar had gotten safely inside the house.

He listened to the sound of the tires pulling away and smiled. That was… nice. Maybe dating someone was what he really needed to get over this. Homestar giggled, paused, and then shook his head at the fact he _**giggled**_**.** _I need some sleep_. He thought tiredly. Walking into the bedroom, he changed into some pajamas.

Strong Bad was sound asleep and turned away from the middle of the bed, holding a pillow. The spark he had felt magnified tenfold as Homestar watched the boy sleeping. He groaned and pushed his hair back with one hand. Damnit. Sighing, he tucked himself under the covers, trying to ignore the warm feeling that was tingling over his body.

He didn't want this.


	13. Chapter 12

**Interruption**

No reviews to respond to, so... Yeah. On with the story!

Disclaimer- I don't own Homestar Runner or it's characters, they belong to the Chapman brothers.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 12**

Say I'm neither brave nor young,  
Say I woo and coddle care,  
Say the devil touched my tongue-  
Still you have my heart to wear.

- Dorothy Parker

"So," Marzipan started coyly, holding her books against her chest and leaning against Homestar's locker. "How was the date with Peter? He's nice isn't he?"

Homestar smiled. "It went great, I really enjoyed myself. He invited me out again this Sunday after I go to church."

Marzipan squealed and hugged him. "Oh you're such a cute little faerie, I could eat you up!"

"I thought you were a vegetarian!" Homestar said confusedly.

She rolled her eyes at that one. "Nice, Homestar."

Homestar was distracted by someone walking by. Peter. He smiled and waved, walking over to the two. "Hi Michael, Marzipan, how are you two?"

"Fine." Homestar dismissed.

"Good. I'm looking forward to this weekend." Peter gave a brief kiss on the cheek before waving goodbye and heading for class.

Homestar blushed and Marzipan cooed again. "You get embarrassed so easily." She teased.

"Shut up." He mumbled, grabbing his books and closing the locker. "Guess we should head to French class."

* * *

Javier glared at the new person who joined him and Homsar in the bleachers. The dick Peter was watching Homestar race others on the team. Jerk was just going to use Homestar like a tissue to be thrown away afterwards.

Homsar didn't notice his bad mood and just worked on homework from his classes, occasionally asking him for help when he was confused.

As soon as Homestar was done with practice and had gone into the locker room with the rest of the team to shower, Javier stood up and stretched. Eyeing Peter, who was waiting patiently for him to come out, he moseyed over just in time to catch Homestar just as he was exiting, Homsar following. "Ready to go home?" He asked, already trying to drag him away.

Homestar looked around and caught sight of his new_ boyfriend_. Javier spat the word in his mind like venom. "Hold on," He said, pulling his hand out of Javier's grip. "I'm going to go say hi first."

Javier sulked, arms crossed and purposely not looking at the two as they talked for a minute and shared a brief kiss. Ugh, jibbilies. How repulsive. He was tapping his foot impatiently by the time Homestar came back. "You finally ready?" He griped.

He frowned at Javier's tone but nodded. "Why've you got ants in your pants?" He asked, hands shoved in his pockets as they walked down the street.

Now that the scum was out of sight Javier was relaxing. "Nothing." He dismissed. "I just don't like that guy, that's all."

Homestar looked confused. "You've barely met him." He pointed out. "Why don't you?"

Javier clenched his fists. "He acts like a playboy." He fumed. "He's going to hurt you; he's only after one thing. He's trying to flatter his way into your pants."

The other looked slightly offended at this. "Not happening." He said stubbornly. "My family believes in abstinence until marriage and so do I."

"Huh?"

Homestar rolled his eyes. "It means I don't want to have sex until I'm married."

Javier snorted angrily. "If you haven't noticed, fags can't get married. I don't think that's going to happen for a while. Why don't you just screw with him while you're ahead?"

Homestar rounded on him with a hurt and angry look. "What is your problem Strong Bad?!" He finally snapped. "Why are you being such an ass?!"

"Stop calling me that!" Javier yelled back, glaring up at the taller boy.

"What?" Homestar seemed taken aback.

"My name is Javier!" He shouted. "Not fucking Strong Bad, that's just a** stupid** nickname we made up when we were a bunch of little brats. I mean, what the hell is a 'Strong Bad' anyway? Or a 'Homestar' for that matter? **My name is Javier**!" Javier turned and raced down the street to the house, ignoring Homestar's calls to come back and instead just focusing on trying not to pay attention to the sudden depression that coupled with his rage.

* * *

Homestar stared after the running boy. Shit, what had he just done? He sighed, starting to walk again slowly, kicking a stone along on the sidewalk. He just didn't understand. He was trying to get over his crush; wouldn't that make him a better friend? Why was Strong Bad so angry?

"I just can't win." Homestar muttered.

He walked about a minute longer before he stopped, listening to the wind. Huh?

"Hamstray!" Coach Z ran up, jogging at a fast pace. "Thourt I'd never catch up to ya." He huffed, patting Homestar on the back.

"What are you doing here Coach?" Homestar asked confusedly. Homsar just waited patiently for them, cowed by the fight earlier.

Coach Z shoved his thumb back towards the field a few blocks back. "I saw the boy problems you was having back there, I waunted to talk to ya and give saume Coach Z advice."

_Uh oh_. Homestar looked for the fastest escape route but Coach Z was already talking, arm locked around Homestar's shoulders to make sure he didn't make a run for it. "First let me congratulate ya on a joirb well done knabbing dat fish. I'm not inta goiys, but to each is own. Now let me shake my head at the little loive triangle you just made."

"What?"

"Stroing Bad, you and Pater of course!" He said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They're boith very poissesive so dat'll give ya a little troible."

Homestar shook his head. "Strong Bad doesn't like me." He said glumly.

Coach Z rolled his eyes. "Dat was the woist case of joilesy that I've seen in a while, Hamstrang, I'm not imagining it."

He ducked his head. "I suppose you heard the fight, then?"

He laughed. "Everyone in the noighberhood hoid dat one Hamstrang, you two was screamin at each oither. Now, I don't approve of it, so I want you to go hoime and make sure you two talk it out." Coach Z said this sternly and Homestar nodded. "Good my boi, now get goin'." He tipped his hat to them before turning back and heading to Bub's place.

Homestar stood there in a stunned silence. A… love triangle? As in he had a chance? He stood in this stupor for a few minutes until Homsar tugged on his shirt. "Hoimestawr, can we goa hoame?" He asked, looking tired and nervous, as if he was afraid Homestar was going to start yelling at him.

"Yeah." He sighed, not looking forward to having to 'talk' about it.

* * *

Javier didn't bother looking up when he heard the door open, busy working on English homework and still fuming from the earlier confrontation. Homsar scuttled by and quickly went upstairs, not saying hi to Javier. Homestar came in next and gave a stern look. "Stro-Javie-… We need to talk. Now."

"Can't you see I'm busy, Dorkstar?" Javier said impatiently. "Go run in place or something."

His English book was grabbed and Homestar walked out of the room with it, not looking at him. Javier glared after him but got up and headed into the kitchen. They could have stayed in the living room, but the kitchen was a sort of meeting place where one was supposed to have serious conversations. Or eat. Either one really.

Homestar was sitting on the book, waiting patiently when he came in. "Real mature." He snorted, sitting down across from him.

"I. Don't. Care." He gritted out every syllable. "Obviously I did something wrong, and I want to know what it was. What pissed you off so much?"

Javier rolled his eyes. "It's not that hard, don't call me-"

"I'm not talking about whatever identity crisis you're having." Homestar cut in. "I'm asking why you got so angry in the first place."

"He's not good for you." Javier muttered. "I don't want to see you hurt because he's an idiot."

"Javier," The name seemed to sound foreign on Homestar's tongue, and the other sighed. "Do you like me?"

He froze, heart thumping in his chest. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but he couldn't make a sound. Homestar watched closely, seeming to want the answer more than anything. The blue eyes seemed to beg for the one thing he couldn't give.

Javier looked away, not wanting to see Homestar's pleading gaze. "No." He snarled. "I don't."

There was a silence at the table and Homestar stood up wearily. He seemed to struggle for something to say before shaking his head. "We have nothing to talk about then." He said softly, placing Javier's book on the table. Not looking at him, he went to their room after grabbing his backpack and closed the door.

He was staring at the empty seat, unable to move. Javier sat like this for a few minutes before slamming his head into the table, muttering about how much of an idiot he was.

* * *

That night they slept at different ends of the bed, sheets cold between them.

"_Mine." _


	14. Chapter 13

**Interruption**

So, I totally haven't been spending all weekend playing free trial of Wow and not writing. :D Totally not. But I DID watch the Neverending Story again, and I remember now why that movie scared me so much when I was little. Good movie though, want to read the book.

ElevatormusicINC- I know, it made me sad to write it. Then I want to hit both of them, then they yell at me because I wrote them like this, and it just turns into a whole mess.

Lightskaylaction- FIGHT TO THE END!

Disclaimer- I don't own Homestar Runner or it's characters, they belong to the Chapman brothers.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 13**

But, children, you should never let  
Such angry passions rise:  
Your little hands were never made  
To tear each other's eyes.

-Isaac Watts

"I'm going out for lunch." Homestar said, grabbing his wallet and sticking it in his pocket.

His mom looked over at him. "Oh? With who?"

Strong Bad was sulking, trying to ignore the conversation. Homestar ignored him in return. "A friend I met recently." He dismissed.

She raised her eyebrow, obviously knowing there was a bigger story behind this. "Okay then, just keep your phone on."

Homestar nodded, waving goodbye as he went outside into the biting wind. _Must be a cold front today. _He shivered, jogging to keep himself warm as he headed to a small restaurant across town. He didn't think twice about it, the town was small and it was only three miles. It would be a good way to warm up anyway.

Peter was leaning against his car and smiled when he saw Homestar jogging up. "Hey, you should have asked for a ride." He laughed. "I didn't realize you would run all the way here!"

He shook it off. "It's okay. It's great out." _Wow he looks nice._ Homestar thought to himself. Peter was dressed in a dark green shirt with brown pants, a green sweatshirt on as well. He probably should have brought one too, Homestar considered. Oh well.

After going inside the warm building they were seated and waited on. Homestar looked around the restaurant. Marshmallow's Last Stand was definitely the most confusing eatery name there was in the area, but it had the most unique history. When the town was still being settled, the British had invaded. One man refused to give up, rallying a small party of townsfolk and fighting back. They were driven back until the leader was the only one left standing. In a last act of defiance, he spat at the feet of the soldiers and proclaimed 'Long live America.' He died in that spot, shot by a soldier. The man's honest name had been John Marshmallow.

The place kept an artist's rendering of him hung up on the east wall and the history was printed on the back of every menu. Peter must not have been here before, he read the back intently.

"Wow." He said. "Wasn't expecting that."

Homestar was about to respond when another waiter came back. "Hey, the other waiter had a job to do he forgot about, so I'll be taking his place."

He looked at the boy for a second. "Hold on, you look really familiar… And aren't you a little young to be working here?"

The blond glared at him. "No, I don't know you." He looked at a menu. "May I suggest a glass of lemon-break-up-ade? Or a greasy slice of piz-not-making-out-za."

Homestar looked at the menu again. "The second thing sounds kind of good."

Peter gave the boy an unimpressed look. "Aren't you Strong Bad's friend?" He deadpanned.

He looked back at him. "The Cheat?" Homestar asked.

The Cheat held up his hands innocently. "Hey, I'm being paid twenty bucks, not my fault."

Homestar glared at him. "I can't believe Strong Bad!" He growled.

"What happened to the original waiter?" Peter asked, confused.

"Where do you think I got the outfit from?" The Cheat pointed out. "He went out for a cigarette break. I stole his wallet, his outfit, and his comb. Plus his cigarettes. Not bad for a days work."

Homestar shook his head. "Will you get out of here?" He snapped.

The Cheat shrugged and left. Homestar sighed and called over another waiter.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Javier demanded, leaning against the wall of the house.

The Cheat shrugged and took another drag of the stolen cigarette. "They figured it out pretty fast; I'm not very good at hiding in a crowd. The boyfriend figured out I was your friend and Homestar took it from there."

"Shit." He muttered.

"Meh." The Cheat grinned. "Either way I got eighty bucks."

Javier gave him a weird look. "I only paid you twenty."

The Cheat was about to respond when the dreaded vehicle pulled around the car. "That would be my signal to leave, have fun dealing with the wrath of Homestar!" The Cheat quickly raced away before the passengers in the car could see him, and Javier went back inside. He was going to get a hell of a telling off.

Homestar seemed cheerful enough as he waved goodbye to the car as it drove away, wearing an unfamiliar green jacket. After closing the door Homestar whipped around and glared daggers at Javier. "What the hell?" He yelled, throwing his wallet on the counter.

Javier shrugged, continuing to write. "What?" He asked innocently.

"You know very well what." Homestar hissed. "Using The Cheat to try and ruin my date, what is wrong with you?!"

"Hey, I didn't do anything." Javier protested. "He came to me asking where you were and I told him." He felt slightly guilty at throwing his friend under the bus, but that guilt didn't last long.

Homestar didn't buy it. "Like I'm going to believe that." He laughed angrily. "You would be the type to hire The Cheat to do that."

"Why would I go around trying to ruin your sick love life?" Javier snapped. "What makes you think I care?"

Homestar let out a frustrated half-scream and went to the bedroom. He came out about a second later dressed haphazardly in running clothes. "I need to cool down." He growled, slamming the door shut behind him.

Javier felt bad for upsetting him so much, but not enough to make himself apologize. No way, no how. He was doing him a favor, and he wouldn't give up.

* * *

"Homestar, what's wrong?" Marzipan asked as Homestar knocked on her door.

"I need to talk to you." He said desperately, walking in when she opened the door. "It's about the relationship with Peter."

She looked surprised. "I thought you were enjoying yourself!' She said, surprised.

Homestar nodded. "I am, but now I'm having troubles with Strong Bad." He cradled his head in his hands. "Yesterday we got in a screaming match with each other and today he hired The Cheat to try and ruin my date.

"Did it work?" Marzipan asked worriedly.

He shook his head but shrugged helplessly. "No, but I don't know what to do. I'm finally trying to get over with my crush and move on, but now suddenly I'm risking losing the friendship to get over that crush. I don't know what to do!" He cried.

"Oh honey." She wrapped him in a hug. "These sort of things happen sometimes. I don't have much advice, but if you had to choose, would you pick a friend over a date?"

Homestar seemed surprised she even had to ask. "A friend of course." He said.

"Then you've got your answer." She said simply. "Come on, let's watch some romance movies. They always make me feel better after a drama like this."

He looked at the floor in despair. "I don't like romance movies." He muttered.

She winked at him. "I know one you do~" Marzipan sang.

Homestar looked up happily. "You've got it?" He asked in disbelief.

"Of course I do." She responded indignantly. "What kind of girl would I be if I didn't?"

He smiled. "Thanks Marzipan, you always know how to make me feel better."

* * *

Javier, meanwhile, was on the computer checking some websites for advice. What did he need to do?

He had very obviously pissed Homestar off. _Nice deduction genius._ He must be doing something wrong. At this rate, he was just going to make it worse.

He clicked on the first website that popped up. How to make up with your girlfriend; okay, that wouldn't exactly work, what sort of tips did it have? He scrolled through it. Box of chocolates, flowers, apologies... Yeah, all WAY to girly.

Javier paused and typed in a new search. He considered chickening out before he pressed the search button, but he clicked it anyway. Almost as many sites pulled up and he clicked the first one. .

He covered his eyes when the front page pulled up. He didn't want porn! His skin crawled and he was about to click the back button when he saw what he needed. Forums. Maybe...

Bypassing the guys giving head, he clicked on the tab and looked through the multiple boards until he found what he was looking for. Coming out of the Closet, Relationship troubles, etc. He clicked that and looked through briefly. This was what he needed. Clicking to make an account, he signed up quickly and filled out his profile.

Jesus Christ. He was signing up for a gay website. Could this get much worse?

After putting some basic information he went back to the forums and started to type in his request for help. He didn't see any responses right away so he closed the website and decided to check it later. Javier was about to get up when he looked back at the computer. It was probably best to check before he got to actually taking the advice.

He pulled the website back up and attempted to look at the front page without gagging. It didn't look good, and he** definitely **was not getting hard about it. Javier tried going through the porn section, only to be repulsed. The hell? Running his hand through his hair, he tried looking at one picture and imagining it as him and Homestar.

A warm tingle spread through him and headed straight to his groin. Oh yeah, that got a heck of a reaction. He jumped and blushed when he heard the door being opened, quickly closing the website and running towards the bathroom to hide his little problem. The kind of pants he wore didn't exactly hide it.

* * *

Homestar saw Strong Bad race by quickly to the bathroom. Not bothering to say hello, he quickly shut the door. "Hey, you okay?" Homestar asked, knocking on the door.

"Go away, Homestar!" The voice growled.

He frowned and walked away. Fine, dickhead.


	15. Chapter 14

**Interruption**

Heaven almighty and above, this week has been WEIRD. Okay, I'll start off with Tuesday, when our week started. It was supposed to be a normal day, but I slept in by accident (I wasn't late for school). That should have been my FIRST sign. When I get to school my brother, who is not actually my brother but I call all my extremely close friends my siblings (I have a sister too), asks me if he can talk to me. Mind you, I'm starting to worry, because all my friends had been teasing us about how we 'liked' each other. Eww people, that's incest (XD).

So I'm preparing for declaration of love and he's starting off saying how hard this is for him to say so I tell him to spit it out and get it over with. He's GAY. DUDE?! It's not that I have a problem with it, but I swear I was in shock the whole day. I mean, I suppose I could tell a little bit because other people have asked me if he's gay, but I have the worst freaken gaydar on the planet, so it was, shocking. The rest of the week has been going good though, I'm closer to him now because I suppose I've always felt like he wasn't telling me something. This is my second year knowing him, he's known he's gay for FOUR YEARS. Poor kid, he shouldn't have to deal with the prejudice out there. I have more to tell you guys, but I'll wait till next time, because it continues on. Enjoy the chapter!

Lightskaylaction- I know, I was laughing when I wrote that scene. Originally I was planning on it being HOMESTAR. I had everything set up, I had actually signed up on the site and posed myself as him to get advice on what actual gay guys would do (they thought I was a real person). Then I decided, hey, Strong Bad on a gay site would be serious giggles. And so that's how it is. Peter, I LOVE Peter, he's so... Cute! But considering the situation, to Strong Bad's point of view, he's always going to be the bad guy. Cause Strong Bad is that jealous.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 14 **

When it begun -- or if there were  
A time when it was not –

-Emily Dickinson

"Hey, Homestar?"

Javier sighed, walking into the living room where Homestar was watching some TV and almost drifting to sleep. "Can I talk to you?"

He seemed surprised that he wanted to talk but nodded. "I need to talk to you, too."

They sat at opposite ends of the table, fidgeting and not sure how to start. Finally they locked eyes. "I'm sorry!" They blurted at the same time, blinking in surprise.

Javier sucked it up and started before Homestar. "I'm sorry I've been trying to ruin your dates, it was wrong of me." He tried to find a way to apologize without admitting about the feeling he was developing. "I guess I was jealous that he was taking up so much of the time we usually spend hanging out."

The website flashed back to his mind and the responses to his plea. First, they had all called him an idiot. Second, they said the most important thing was to apologize before he lost everything with Homestar. Third, they said he needed to just admit that he liked Homestar. He had been angry at first. They didn't know anything about the situation! After spending two days thinking about it though he realized they were right. Homestar had gotten quiet and was having trouble looking at him, like he was always thinking.

He tried to say it aloud but the words wouldn't pass his tongue. Unable to say it, he wrote it down on a piece of paper and slid it over to him, not able to look Homestar in the eyes as he read it. There was silence on the other end of the table and he finally got the guts to look up.

Homestar's eyes practically popped out of their sockets at the message and Javier blushed. "Hold on." He managed to say. "Before we get into this, I need to apologize as well." Homestar shifted nervously. "I went to Marzipan's place a few days ago and was talking to her, the day you tried to ruin my date." Javier glanced away guiltily at that. "She was asking if I would pick a friend over a love interest." Homestar fiddled with the propeller on his cap. "Strong Bad, if it ruins our friendship, I don't want to be with Peter. I'm breaking up with him tomorrow."

Javier stared at him in astonishment. "You were actually going to do that for me?" He asked in disbelief. "Even after I've been such a jerk?"

"You're usually a jerk." Homestar's mouth twitched upward in a smile.

* * *

Before Homestar knew it Strong Bad was around the table and their lips were pressed together. The warm feeling he normally felt when Peter kissed him exploded and felt like fire that traveled through every pore of his body.

Next thing he knew he had pulled away, his face just a few centimeters from his own. The slightly long black hair tickled his face as it hung and Strong Bad smiled softly. "Haven't had a kiss that good in a while." He murmured.

"No flashbacks?" Homestar questioned. He shook his head, and they kissed again, this time Homestar's arms wrapped around the others shoulders.

* * *

Javier watched from across the hallway as Homestar talked to Peter. They were murmuring together and Peter's face looked sad and confused. He felt bad. Not his fault his ex-boyfriend had an extremely jealous crush.

Any guilt he had felt though disappeared when Peter asked in an angry voice. "Is he making you do this?"

Obviously knowing who 'he' was, Javier turned and started walking down the hallway to avoid a scene. The Cheat caught up to him and looked back at the used to be couple. "Did you do that?" He asked in disbelief. "How in the world did you get them to break up?"

"Homestar chose to." Javier answered truthfully.

The Cheat narrowed his eyes. "Strong Bad, tell me the **whole** truth."

He seemed surprised at how The Cheat caught on so fast and he looked away. "Can we talk about this after school?" He pleaded, not liking the feeling that everyone could hear him.

"No." The Cheat grabbed onto his backpack and held on stubbornly, digging his heels into the ground. "You're going to tell me right now."

Javier ducked his head, muttering something under his breath. The Cheat raised an eyebrow. "Dude, speak up, I can barely hear you." His face got red and he muttered again. "Speak up!" The Cheat said impatiently.

Face as red as a fire engine, Javier finally yelled "I like him? Okay?!" The hallway went dead silent and Javier felt the many stares burning holes in his back.

The Cheat stared at him with wide eyes. "Like him? Like, a friend, right?" He stammered out.

Javier shook his head, not bothering to speak. He would just embarrass himself again anyway. The Cheat looked pale. "Wow, man... I mean... Wow... Really, just, wasn't expecting that."

"Are you okay?" Javier asked uncertainly.

The Cheat nodded. "I'm fine." Then he collapsed in a dead faint.

* * *

"Dude, why didn't you ever tell me you were into guys?!" The Cheat yelled, pacing by the bleachers where Javier sat wearily.

"Not into guys," He corrected unwittingly. "Just Homestar."

He just blanched and shuddered. "I don't want that mental image, please." The Cheat pleaded before he started pacing again. "Look, I don't mind if you..." The concept seemed foreign to the boy. "Like… him. Please just don't do all the couple-like stuff when I'm around. No offense, it just kind of wigs me out."

Javier shook his head. "We're not a couple." He defended.

The Cheat just gave him a blank look. "Homestar just broke up with that dude, and you think you guys aren't going to get together. I'm not an idiot." Javier just shrugged helplessly and The Cheat shook his head. "Whatever. How long have you started feeling this way for him?"

"About a day or two after I got out of the hospital." He guessed. "Give or take a few days."

The Cheat threw his hands in the air. "Great, the hospital has dropped the first official gay bomb!" Sighing, he started walking away. "Whatever dude, give me some time to adjust, I've got to head to the park. See ya later."

Javier waved goodbye to The Cheat and went back to working quietly. He was so engrossed in the book he didn't notice the other boy stomping over to him. Finally noting, he started to look up when a fist connected with the side of his face. He was knocked to the side and Peter stood over him. Javier brought his hand up to his mouth, blood glistening on his fingers. "The hell's your problem?" He demanded angrily.

Already Coach Z was running over to stop them, but he was on the other side of the field. "You treat Michael like an item." He fumed. "You're playing with his emotions."

Javier pushed himself to his feet, narrowing his eyes. "How dare you accuse me of that!" He hissed.

Peter sneered. "Can you blame me; you act like a jealous child."

Letting out a yell, Javier tackled him. They were only on the first seat of the bleachers so they tumbled onto the softer grass. Peter quickly got on top because of his greater height and weight, but Javier managed to head butt him with a sharp 'crack'. The other pulled back and Javier wriggled out of his grasp, slipping around and getting the boy in a headlock.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he wrestled the boy to the ground.

"Strong Bad, stop it!"

At Homestar's voice he let go. Immediately Peter turned around and started pummeling him. He wanted to fight back so badly, but Homestar told him not to, so he took it and tried instead to block the punches. It didn't last long because Coach Z grabbed Peter and yanked him off.

Homestar helped him up and was babbling frantically in his ear, asking if he was okay. "I'm fine, I'm fine," He grunted. "My head's just spinning, that's all."

Coach Z was yelling at the top of his lungs at Peter about kicking him off the swimming team. "In aoil my years of working here, I have noiver seen such a blatent display of misconduct! Oiver a boi for dat matter!" He whipped around to face the rest of the team. "Practice is done for today, get oit of here." After the rest of the track team had dissipated, he turned around to continue yelling at Peter. After he was done he addressed all three of them. "I don't know woiht's going on, but you three better woirk it out." He snapped.

"Peter and I broke up." Homestar spoke coldly, glaring at the other boy. "There's nothing to work out."

He seemed to deflate at Homestar's words. Javier felt bad for him; he had been trying to protect Homestar because he thought he was a bad person.

"Guys," Javier interrupted. "Don't be so hard on him."

Homestar looked surprised. "Strong Bad, he attacked you!"

Javier wiped away some blood dribbling from his lip. "Ya, he did, but I don't blame him." He defended. "Not only does he have a bad opinion of me because I was acting like an idiot, but I stole away his boyfriend too. He thought he was protecting you from me. I would do the same thing if I was him."

Coach Z looked astonished at the fact he was protecting him. After thinking for a moment, he looked back up. "I want all of ya to go home. Pater, you do saumething like this agoin youir off the team." He walked off to the locker room, still fuming.

They stood in silence until Javier finally asked. "Homestar, can you go get changed?"

Peter, seeing Homestar's untrusting glances, spoke up too. "It's okay; I promise I won't start any more fights."

Homestar obviously didn't believe them, but jogged off to change. Once Homestar was out of sight they looked back at each other. "Truce? Javier asked simply.

Peter nodded and they shook hands. "Still hate each other?"

"Of course."

* * *

"I can't believe him." Homestar fumed. "Going and picking a fight with you! The nerve!"

Javier shrugged. He just continued to let him rant and focused on what he was going to do tonight. Something nice to surprise Homestar. He couldn't do the winning smile that always wooed the ladies; the bust lip kind of put a halt to that plan. Maybe he could cook dinner. Then again, he always cooked. Restaurant? Nah. How about just a nice home movie? Yah, that sounded good. Ms. Runner was going to be out to work tonight and Homsar was sleeping over at a friend's house, so they would be the only ones there.

Now what sort of movies did he enjoy? Maybe Marzipan would know, she WAS his best friend anyway. He knew The Cheat's favorite movie, the Exorcist.

"Hey, do you know Marzipan's phone number?" Javier asked casually, writing it down when Homestar gave it to him.

* * *

"Hello?" Marzipan asked through the phone.

"Hey, Marzipan, it's Javier, can I ask you something?" He asked.

There was silence on the other end of the line. "I don't know a Javier; I think you've got the wrong number."

"Uh, Strong Bad." Javier supposed he was so used to thinking of himself as Javier, he wasn't used to using his nickname.

"Oh!" She sounded surprised. "What do you want?""

"I was..." He started out hesitantly. Maybe this was a stupid idea. "What's Homestar's favorite movie?"

Once again there was silence. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well, I was going to rent a movie to watch with him, and I wanted to know what he liked, since I've never asked before."

"Romance movie wise, he loves The Notebook." Marzipan didn't hesitate telling him. "He likes unbuttered, natural popcorn and really enjoys gummy worms while watching movies."

"Wow, uh." He started, surprised. "Thanks!"

"Go make him happy." She hung up on him and he closed his cell phone, just entering the movie rental.

* * *

"How did you know I love this movie?!" Homestar gasped, looking at the DVD in his hands.

Javier shrugged. "Called Marzipan and asked." He told the truth. "I wanted to surprise you so I thought a movie and some popcorn would be nice."

Homestar smiled. "You're too kind." He said. "I'll put this in now, can you make the popcorn?"

He nodded and placed the bag in the microwave, waiting for the popping to stop. His skin tingled from where Homestar had pecked him on the cheek and he smiled. He would have to do little things like this more often. At the ding he grabbed the bag and popped it open, hiding the second item behind him as he went into the living room.

Homestar already had his feet propped up and was sitting on the couch. The Notebook's title page was playing music and Javier wondered if it would be a good movie. Sure, he had heard people say it was good, but who knew if it actually was. It was rumored among the locker rooms to be the queen of chick flicks.

The grin on the other's face though told him he would watch any movie if it meant seeing him happy. That was the point of liking each other, wasn't it?

"I was in the store, and I saw something I thought you might enjoy." Javier started off with a smirk, plopping down on the couch and handing the bag to Homestar.

"How much did Marzipan tell you?" He asked, astonished as he popped open the gummy worms.

Javier just smiled again and wrapped an arm around Homestar. "Let's just say for now she's my advisor. I don't want to screw this up."

Homestar was falling asleep by the time the movie was over. His head was resting on Javier's shoulder and his eyes kept drifting shut. "Long week?" He asked the tired boy.

He just nodded and yawned. "I'm heading to bed." He murmured, getting up and stretching. "You coming?"

Javier nodded as well and stood up. He wondered briefly if others would find it weird he had been sharing a bed with Homestar before they were even dating. Then again, that sounded just wrong.

"I'll be right there; I have to check something on the computer first." Javier jerked his thumb to the computer and Homestar nodded, going to the other room to put on pajamas. After being sure that no one was around, he quickly typed onto the website he had found in the search.

'Thanks, your tips worked wonders! I'm with the guy and it's all going great.'

* * *

Homestar brushed his teeth and gargled some mouthwash, spitting it into the sink. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, time to go running just like everyday. His normal outfit had been switched with another gym outfit and this one was actually clean.

He briefly considered sitting down for breakfast, but only for a second. Homestar craved this exercise in the morning; usually he was grumpy if he didn't get it.

Slipping on sneakers, he grabbed his iPod and walked to the front door. The family gave him a wave as he went and Strong Bad winked. His mom didn't realize yet, at least they didn't think she did. Neither one of them could work up the guts to tell her.

They would probably have to play rock, paper, scissors over it.

The cold front had released its hold on the state and the weather was pleasant, only a few clouds in the clear blue sky. Birds were chirping and singing and a few cars drove up and down the street to weekend jobs. One large hippie van drove by with a load of kids screaming out the window for a girl named 'Audrey'. Picking a random direction, he started running down.

Turning around the corner, he was greeted with a not-so-pleasant sight. Ambulances gathered around the park and parents were hurrying their kids away. Jogging to a stop, Homestar tilted his head curiously and walked over.

He shoved his way through the crowd until he was near the front. Tapping a man on the shoulder, he asked, "What happened?"

He shook his head. "Don't know. Some kid got mugged in the middle of the night, he's looking pretty bad."

Homestar winced in sympathy for the kid. "Do you know anything else?"

"Just that he won't say where he lives."

Sighing, Homestar walked away from the incident, going back to jogging. He would have to tell Strong Bad of this later.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Javier yelled, panic spiking through him.

Homestar looked at him cautiously. "I don't know, some kid in the park. A couple of people were saying he's there almost constantly. What's wrong?"

Javier grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out of the house, breaking into a run. "Shit, Homestar, that's The Cheat!"

"What?!" Homestar said in disbelief, running alongside him. "What do you mean he's The Cheat?"

The hospital, like everything else in the town wasn't too far away. "The Cheat's been having issues with his family." Javier huffed. "They kicked him out so he's been renting from some dude. He couldn't pay all the bills, so they kicked him out. The Cheat's been sleeping in the park since."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Homestar asked accusingly.

"Homestar," Javier said this as sadly as he could while running. "You're so nice; you and your mom would have invited him to stay in the house as well. Ms. Runner is already working almost twenty four-seven because I'm staying there. She didn't need more work."

They skidded to a stop outside the double glass doors and quickly walked in to the front desk. A woman looked up at them, confused at their panicked expressions and wet clothes. "Eh, what can I do for you boys?" She asked.

"Not too long ago, they brought in a mugged boy, right?" Javier started off hurriedly. "Found in the park? We need to see him, he's our friend."

She shook her head. "Only family can see patients; and since he won't say who his family is, no one is to see him."

"WE'RE THE ONLY DAMN FAMILY HE HAS!" Javier shouted, banging his hand on the counter.

The woman looked them over again and sighed, picking up the phone. "I'll call the doctor that's with him so he can talk to you two." In a few minutes the man came walking in, looking around for the cause of the disruptance.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Look," Javier started impatiently. "You're treating a patient that's our best friend; we need to make sure he's all right. He doesn't have a good family to do that for us."

He looked at them with shrewd eyes. "What are your names?"

Homestar finally spoke. "I'm Homestar, this is Strong Bad."

The doctor nodded. "He's been asking for a Strong Bad, I had no idea what he was talking about though. You must be him, come with me." He led them through the maze of hallways and Javier couldn't help but feel like he had been in the hospital long enough to suffice ever coming here again.

Finally they reached the room and the doctor let them in. Immediately Javier rushed in to the closest bed, which was occupied by the blonde. The Cheat forced a smile when he saw the two, face swollen and teeth missing, including the gold one. "Hey, Strong Bad." He groaned. "I was wondering when you were going to fucking get here."

"How are you feeling?" Homestar asked worriedly, taking his place next to Strong Bad.

"That doesn't matter." The Cheat said angrily. "What **does **matter is that they stole my money! And my cigarettes! Do you know how hard those things are to steal?"

Javier's lips twitched upward in a smile. Same old The Cheat. "What happened?" He asked in astonishment, eyes sweeping over the frail boy.

"I don' know." The Cheat waved his hand weakly. "Sometime the middle of the night, guy dragged me out of the kiddie's tunnel. I was too disoriented; otherwise I would have given that guy what he was asking for."

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Homestar asked, eyes lingering on a large bandage and gauze on The Cheat's arm.

His face darkened. "Do not tell them who my parents are," The Cheat said grimly. "I'm not going back there."

* * *

"Is it just me," Homestar asked, depressed. "Or are the months of October and November screwing with everyone?"

"Tell me about it." Strong Bad muttered, taking a swig of his drink. "First me, then Homsar, then The Cheat, what next? Marzipan?" Homestar went pale and Strong Bad quickly rethought what he had said. "I'm sure she's fine, Homestar. Calm down."

He groaned and leaned back against the couch. "Wake me up in twenty minutes, I need a nap."

Javier rolled his eyes and pulled Homestar on him with an 'eep!' They adjusted for a second, getting comfortable. Eventually they ended up with Homestar nestled between Javier's legs with his back against his chest. "I'll wake you up when it's time." He said.

"Thanks." Homestar was out like a light, hair falling in wisps over his face. Javier smiled at the sight and played with a strand, slightly bored. The other boy shifted and his groin was pressed against.

_"That feel good you little slut?" The voice whispered, pressing down harder on the area. "I'm going to fuck you so hard you won't be able to walk."_

He clenched his eyes shut, taking a deep breath and trying to relax. It had been hard lately. All of the cuddling and touching was bringing back too many buried memories. Javier wished he wasn't affected so badly by them, but Homestar seemed to understand, never doing anything that Javier didn't initiate first. And in return Javier always made sure Homestar would be comfortable with it first.

They had some pretty clear boundaries. Below the pants, don't go near. Under the shirt, risky, only in a daring mood. Kissing and making out was free game though. Javier enjoyed that a lot.

He wondered what he would say if Homestar came up to him a few months ago and told him they would be cuddling on the couch together. Most likely he would have laughed. Maybe punched him. Most likely both. Javier wasn't sure what had caused such a change in his personality and dating interests. Chicks were nice. Heck, they were more than nice, Javier still enjoyed getting a panty shot when a girl in a mini skirt bent over, but it felt different. Not **as** nice.

Of course, just because he liked Homestar didn't mean he liked guys. Looking at the porn had solved that question pretty quickly. Javier wouldn't find himself checking out other men, or admiring anyone in the locker room. In fact, the thought made him repulsed.

Suddenly a thought hit him that he hadn't thought of. How DID gay guys have sex? He had seen them jerking each other off, giving head, and just posing, but did they take part in any penetration?

Javier wanted to know so badly, but to ask Homestar that was out of the question. What a way to scare him off. Maybe he could go back to that site. So far it seemed to be his educator on everything homo, queer and date-like. They seemed pretty accepting of his feelings and views, though some still regarded him as an idiot with the whole drama involving Homestar. Otherwise the helped him with any questions he had and gave advice if he was stuck in a rut and didn't know what to do.

Everything they had suggested had made Homestar happy. One time he had to leave early in the morning, so he left a small flower on his side of the bed. It was a humble flower, but he was pretty sure Homestar found it endearing. Once in a while they would go out to eat at Marshmallows Last Stand, and always every Saturday. It was their favorite restaurant; Javier enjoyed the hamburgers and Homestar the pizzas and salads.

He didn't expect that Homestar would mind eating veggie food, but he had said since he was friends with Marzipan, he had to pick up a few habits. To him it tasted normal. Though, Homestar explained, he did like to cheat with a meat lover's pizza once in a while. He never could understand vegetarians, didn't they kill plants? Not that different from killing animals. They didn't bother trying to explain and just continued talking about different subjects. For example, Homestar's favorite band was Bee Jees, and his favorite color was red.

Okay, the whole favorite color thing wasn't surprising.

Javier woke Homestar up about that time. "Hey, only twenty minutes, you need to sleep tonight."

Homestar grumbled under his breath and sat up, stretching. Damn that boy had a nice body. Probably from all the running he did. "What do you want to do today? We already finished homework." He asked, yawning.

"How about we go out and eat," Javier suggested. "It's almost lunch time anyway. We can drop by and see The Cheat afterwards."

"Sounds good." Homestar agreed, standing up. "I'm going to grab a coat. It's cold outside. Should I grab yours, too?"

"That would be great!" Javier called to him, lacing up his boots. Winter was starting to hit, it was almost always freezing now and the snow was going to start falling soon. "Maybe some gloves too; the weather channel said the temp was going to reach a low for this week."

Homestar came out a few seconds later to give Javier his stuff. He was dressed in a white jacket with some red gloves. Javier laughed. "If you just wore blue more often you could be the American flag."

He stuck his tongue out at Javier and they walked outside, standing close to each other as the gusts of wind pounded against them.


	16. Chapter 15

**Interruption**

Anyway, when writing this chapter I got so confused with how the Strong household must look, so I finally settled for 'Screw it I'm changing it to how I see fit.' So those who have played Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People and know what the house looks like, don't kill me! Oh, and we have a new main character. Say Hi everyone! HI! _(Don't kill me!)_

ElevatormusicINC- YAY!

Lightskaylaction- Don't worry, there is twenty chapters and an epilogue (because I have to drag it out). I know, I loved Peter too, but sadly that was his last appearance. Sorry! If I write another H*R story I'll add him in somewhere. Judging by their advice for Homestar (even if I think I made the post a bit OOC), they would definitely call Strong Bad an idiot. I'll post the link to the thread, but DO NOT travel anywhere else on the site, ESPECIALLY with someone in the room. Don't go the absolute bottom either. My poor innocent eyes... I may write gay fanficiton, but I like girls not dudes, not a welcome sight (no pun intended).

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 15**

Our family is the proverbial egg that we were hatched from. Everything about us, both nature and nurture comes from this place. Our family is everything. Sometimes we choose to run away from our roots because they are too painful to face. Ultimately however, if we do not face where we came from, we will have difficulty understanding our present and future.

-Unknown

The Cheat blew the hair out of his face, flipping through the many channels that the hospital kept on their TV's. Which was about sixty. He hadn't been able to watch television in a long time and it was a nice treat. The park may have had fresh air but the hospital had **bathrooms**.

Or course, he would have preferred being able to use them without getting help from a nurse, but he would get better soon enough. All he needed to do was delay his leaving, or escape before they sent him to a boys home. Hell no, he wasn't going there. He would have to deal with potential 'adopters'. Yeah right.

The trouble with this place though was that he couldn't smoke. They knew he was below the legal age, and it was ticking him off. Why couldn't he look older? He was seventeen, that was close enough wasn't it! It was his body; and he could kill it if he wanted too. The Cheat adjusted himself, accidently hitting his arm on the bed rail. He hissed in pain and drew his arm back.

The man had managed to cut him up pretty good before he left, leaving a long gash on his arm and chest. He was just grateful it had been a knife instead of a gun, those things hurt like hell. His face was no longer as swollen as it had once been, but he still looked pretty beat up.

He chuckled to himself at the memory of scaring the kid who had found him. Torturing them was the funnest part of being in the park. Of course, no parent had ever called child services when they saw him there. They figured, since he looked so young, that his parent was there with him and he was playing around.

Wincing, he quickly went back to watching the TV. He didn't want to think about his parents. No matter what happened to him while he was on his own, it was ten times better than staying at his house.

His dad worked at the local bank, making minimum wage. His mom had been a stay home mom. The Cheat shook his head at the impending memories, trying to fend them off.

"_You little bastard!" The Cheat ducked the blow of the hand, trying to slip past his mom. "I work my hands to the bloody bone for you, you ungrateful little snot! And what do you do? You steal my beer!" _

_The Cheat glared at her from where he was backed up to a wall. "One beer, contrary to you." He scoffed angrily. "I can smell your breath from here."_

_The mom grabbed a vase and threw it at him. He didn't get out of the way in time, and he cried out as it cracked against the side of his skull. Falling down, he brought his hand up to his head, dazed. "We don't want you here!" His mom screamed at him again._

_Bringing his hand away from the wet part of his skull, he stared at the blood. The Cheat looked up at her in disbelief as the words registered, blood started to drip down his neck. "Mom?" When she didn't respond, he looked over to the living room, where his dad sat drinking a beer and watching TV. The man hadn't even bothered to look at them. "Dad?" As the silence persisted he felt tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Blinking them away, he forced himself to his feet and stumbled to his room._

_"Where the hell are you going?" The mom sneered. The Cheat ignored her, grabbing his backpack and shoving his books for school in there. Once that was packed, he started shoving in a few articles of clothes. _

_Last he grabbed his money and wallet, shoving it into his pocket. He was about to leave when a picture frame on his bed stand caught his eye. It was a picture of him and his family, they were all smiling and laughing. The Cheat looked away bitterly and turned it face down, so he wouldn't have to see it. _

_When he walked out of the room, his mom started screaming again. "You think we're going to let you leave, your wrong!"_

_The Cheat started to push his way past her, only to be grabbed back and backhanded across the face, sending him stumbling. He was prepared to make a run for it after he crashed into a counter painfully, but his father finally spoke. "Ellen, let him go."_

_Even the mom was silent, and they stared at him. The dad continued to ignore them, as if the game show was more important._

_So. That was it; even his dad didn't want him here. _

_The tears started to return and he walked quickly to the door. Turning back before he left, he glared at her. "I'm not coming back." He snarled, tear tracks starting to run. "You can both rot in hell, for all I care, you're not my parents."_

_Mrs. Cheet glared at the door as it slammed shut, the only sound in the apartment being the sound of the game show and the dull roar of cars outside on the street._

"How's my best buddy doing?" The Cheat looked up in disbelief at the familiar voice. Strong Mad came walking in with a large grin on his face. He was spruced up and dressed in a formal black suit, hair combed back and out of the way. Strong Mad looked so different from when he was a teenager.

"Strong Mad, what are you doing here?" The Cheat grinned and gestured the man over. "How's college treating you?"

"Boring." He sighed. "But I'm getting through it. It's nice to live on my own."

The Cheat snorted. "Lucky."

Strong Mad gave him a look, brow raised. "Don't pretend you don't know what it's like." He said sternly. "I heard the story from Strong Bad before I came in."

"Loud mouth." The Cheat muttered angrily.

He shook his head in disbelief at that. "The Cheat, what were you thinking?! Living in the park, by yourself, you were asking for trouble! Why didn't you tell one of us? We would have helped!"

The Cheat shrugged, not wanting to throw Strong Bad under the bus. He was his comrade in crime. "Why should I?" He mumbled. "It's my problem."

Strong Mad grabbed his shoulder, being careful not to cause any more injuries. "If you're having problems at home, you need to talk to someone." He growled. "I know your parents aren't dead. Originally I came down to see Strong Bad to check on him, but obviously you need it more."

The Cheat yanked his shoulder away from him, looking away bitterly. "I'm not going back there." He snarled. "They don't want me, and I don't want them."

"I'm going to be staying out the Strong house for a while." Strong Mad sighed. "Why don't you come live with us? Even if it's only for a little while, that way this doesn't have to happen again."

"If you insist." The Cheat drawled with a smirk. "I get Strong Bad's bed though."

Strong Mad held his hands up in surrender. "If you want it so bad, take it. You're going to have to make Strong Sad move his Tai Chi stuff though."

"Wait, Strong Sad's been in Strong Bad's room?!"

* * *

"Get your stuff out of here!" The Cheat threw the last of the candles out of his friend's room. Strong Sad just picked it up silently and carried it back to his room, closing the door behind him. The Cheat, after being sure the room was free of all things Strong Sad and emo, closed the door and went downstairs. His arm was bandaged with some gauze from around the house. About a day or two after Strong Mad had visited, The Cheat had jumped out the window and skipped out of the hospital before the Home came to take him away. His story had been on the first floor, so it hadn't been that hard.

Strong Mad had been surprised to see him on the doorstep, but sighed and let him in. "Don't smoke in the house." Strong Mad warned, opening the door wider so he could come in. The Cheat just grinned innocently, fingering the pack he had lifted off a store earlier before he dropped by.

Of course, the store clerk wouldn't suspect innocent little old him. He looked too young to even consider smoking. Sometimes it seemed like there were advantages to being young looking.

"What's up Strong Mad?" The Cheat drawled, sitting on the couch. "Anything new in the land of the mature?"

"I'm only twenty two." Strong Mad pointed out. He was dressed much more casually, just a t-shirt and some worn jeans. His muscles still bulged from his wrestling days in high school. "The wrestling team is doing good at our school, though we don't get nearly as much fame as the football team. But that's the way with all colleges I suppose, baseball and basketball too."

The Cheat grinned. "I think I would be great for wrestling, don't you think?" He joked. "You know, with my large muscles and my tallness." He tried to flex his arm, only to fail miserably.

"Sure you would be." Strong Mad amused him. At that moment the door to the house opened, Strong Bad and Homestar walking in and sitting down as well.

Strong Bad grinned and slapped his brother on the back. "Hey, I heard you were in town, what's up man?"

He glanced at Homestar, confused. "Uh, new friend?" Strong Mad guessed. The Cheat forgot he must not have been here for the past dramas of the month. This would be awkward.

The two seemed to realize this and fidgeted next to each other. "Eh, not exactly…" Strong Bad started, drifting off.

"Oh?" Strong Mad was curious now, looking at the two skeptically. "What are you talking about?"

Homestar nudged him and whispered something The Cheat could just barely hear. "He's your brother, you tell him."

Strong Bad gave him a brief glare at being thrown under the bus, but looked back at his brother nervously. "We're sort of… Going out?"

The room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Strong Mad looked ready to have a heart attack, Strong Bad seemed about to die of embarrassment, and Homestar looked poised to run for the door if the oldest reacted badly.

"Well…" Strong Mad started, pausing as he tried to grasp what he was going to say. "I'm… Happy, for you?" He looked at them both again and shook his head. "Never would of guessed." Strong Mad murmured, looking at The Cheat. "How much did I miss while I was gone?"

The Cheat just shook his head. "Too much, I'm having trouble remembering it all."

Strong Mad struggled again for something to say before letting out a huge woosh of breath and leaned back in the couch, running a hand through his hair. "Strong Bad, can I talk to Homestar for a few minutes?" He asked, obviously still trying to grasp what was happening.

The two glanced at each other and Strong Bad stood up, nodding and heading up to his room. They were silent until they heard the door close. When the oldest Strong was going to speak a loud shout came from upstairs. "Where did this stupid yin yang poster come from?!"

Whoops, looks like he forgot one.

Strong Mad waited patiently and The Cheat was wowed by how much he had matured since he graduated high school. "So, you're dating my brother?" Strong Mad started weakly. Homestar nodded quietly. "Well, is he, happy?"

Homestar shrugged. "It seems like it, when he's around me, you would have to ask him yourself though."

He looked for more to ask and laughed quietly. "You know, I never thought I would have to interrogate my brothers dates, I always thought the girls parent were supposed to do that to the guys." Strong Mad looked at The Cheat. "Who knows?" He questioned.

"Uh.' Homestar started counting on his fingers. "Me and Strong Bad, obviously, The Cheat, and basically everyone in the school."

He looked at him critically. "Parents?"

Homestar seemed to pause at that one. "Not quite exactly yet..." He drifted off.

Strong Mad shook his head. "You need to talk with your mom before I can really approve of this, being the over protective big brother I am, and Strong Bad needs to tell our mom about this." He nodded. "Okay, I can't really think of any more questions, I'm still in shock. Go hang out with Strong Bad."

He seemed surprised, but didn't hesitate to jump up and go upstairs. Strong Mad called up after him. "Don't do anything up there you wouldn't do in front of your grandparents! We'll hear you, we're right below his room." Homestar seemed confused at first, but his face turned bright red when he finally understood, practically running up the stairs.

"Geeze, you scared them to death." The Cheat commented. "And you weren't even trying!"

Strong Mad shrugged and looked at him now. "You're going to tell me everything that happened." He growled. "I don't know what the hell I missed, but it was obviously a lot."

The Cheat paused to consider how much Strong Mad had turned into an overprotective brother, before nodding. "Everything was normal until the whole incident with Strong Bad." He started off. "After the annual fair, apparently he had been walking home, and the man clobbered him over the head and kidnapped him. We didn't hear from him for a while," The Cheat stared at the ceiling, hating this. "Homestar kept insisting we needed to look harder for him, mind you Strong Bad still hated him then, and then he disappeared too, about five days after Strong Bad had been gone. The rest of us started panicking because we had thought he had gone out on his own to find Strong Bad. Well, he did, technically."

"He purposely got kidnapped and the guy brought him to where he was keeping Strong Bad, locked in the basement. Apparently Homestar has prosthetic arms and-"

Strong Mad finally interrupted. "Wait, as in he doesn't have arms?"

The Cheat nodded. "Yeah, he's handicapped. Remember Homeschool? Apparently he made them." Strong Mad whistled and The Cheat continued. "He had hid the cell phone among the wires in his arm and called for help so the police could track his location. They were both rescued, which leaves us at a calm in THAT story." He took in another deep breath to continue. "Strong Bad was looking pretty bad when I saw him, and he started having nightmares once he got back to sleeping. I mean SERIOUS nightmares. Managed to knock out some nurses."

"That's my brother." Strong Mad shook his head.

"Oh it gets better." He said dryly. "Homestar had been a constant visitor, every single day without fail. The therapist there suggested that he stay with Homestar, so he could wake Strong Bad up in case he started having nightmares again. That's how Strong Bad came to stay at Homestar's house." The Cheat waved his hand. "Apparently it got better, but I guess that was also the time when Strong Bad started developing his own crush. I don't know the exact details. Cutting to the chase, they stayed together a while and Homestar decided to start dating."

He looked surprised. "Homestar dates?" Strong Mad asked, confused.

The Cheat nodded. "First time apparently, he had wanted to get over a crush he had had on Strong Bad since they were in freshman year because he thought it would get in the way of their friendship. It was this guy named Peter. Homestar and Strong Bad started getting in fights though after he started to date, screaming matches. On the second date Strong Bad actually hired me to try and get them to break up." He remorsed over the loss of his money. "He was pretty jealous. Soon after they apologized and Strong Bad finally told Homestar the reason he was doing it. They made up and the next day Homestar broke up with Peter. Apparently he was going to do that anyway because he was worried it would break the friendship. Peter, after school the next day, attacked Strong Bad-"

"WHAT?!" Strong Mad shouted, standing up and looking ready to pummel someone. Yup, that was the old Strong Mad.

"Calm down." He waved his hands. "Sit down, Strong Bad is alright, it was nothing but a fist fight that didn't get very far. Peter thought Strong Bad was going to use Homestar so he thought he was doing what was best. They have a truce right now though." The Cheat coughed. "It's kind of been like that since then."

He looked at him in disbelief. "Is this little hick town a magnet for trouble?" Strong Mad muttered. "I mean, that's a lot of drama for just three months."

"Two." The Cheat corrected.

"I'm going to ask Strong Bad to come home." Strong Mad finally said. "Even if I can only make him stay for as long as I'm here."

He grumbled about losing his bed, but consented pretty easily. The couch in the basement was still comfy too, plus it had a TV. "So why are you asking Strong Bad to come home?" The Cheat asked curiously.

Strong Mad gave an innocent look. "A big brother can't have his baby bro over for a few nights?" At The Cheats deadpan stare he sighed. "I'm hanging onto the hope that if he stays over with us he'll snap out of whatever... Thing he's in right now. I don't have a problem with guys who dig guys but," He struggled to find the right words. "That doesn't seem like Strong Bad. This is the only hope I have."

* * *

_"Come on Mom, you should go to bed." The Cheat sighed, leading the older drunken women to the bedroom._

_She glared at him. "Who the hell are you?" She drawled, speech slurred from alcohol._

_The fifteen year old winced at the words but tried to ignore them. "It doesn't matter, you just need to sleep."_

* * *

The Cheat woke with a start at the screams that reverberated through the house, jumping up and looking around for the source. After realizing it was Strong Bad's he raced to the boy's room.

Already Strong Mad was there and waking him up. Strong Bad woke up with a gasp at the hand grasping his shoulder, throwing a punch at his brother and trying to back away, still tangled in the sheets. His eyes were wild and the tear tracks glistened in the lights as The Cheat turned them on.

Strong Bad was pleading for it to stop, curling in a ball as far away from them as he could get on the bed, shaking.

"Strong Bad, calm down, it's me!" Strong Mad started out desperately.

The Cheat stared at the two as Strong Mad worked on calming down the brother. He didn't realize the dreams got this bad, it sounded like Strong Bad was fucking dying. Which he probably had been, in the place he had just visited.

Finally realizing where he was, Strong Bad untensed and sat there like a limp rag doll, arms wrapped around himself loosely. "Sorry I woke you up." He murmured, obviously trying to make sure that neither of them could see the wet spots on his face.

Strong Mad forced him to look up. "Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

"Yeah." The Cheat could tell the answer was fake, and it appeared Strong Mad could too.

He obviously didn't believe Strong Bad, but he started to leave anyway. The Cheat followed Strong Mad out of the room, turning off the lights. Strong Bad made no acknowledgement that they were leaving, staring at the wall blankly.

After being sure the door was closed behind him, Strong Mad looked at him with worried eyes. "The Cheat, is this normal?" He demanded.

The Cheat shrugged. "Maybe tonight was just a bad night." He said, trying to work up some hope.

* * *

_Javier tried to twist out of the mans grip, hands still bloody from before. The man grabbed him back by the hair, yanking his head back and sneering. "Where do you think your going?" Javier tried desperately to gurgle an answer. The man, seeming angry, started punching him, holding the boy still so he couldn't get away. _

_When he was done, he pulled him up and slammed the boys face into a pipe that was nearby in the basement. Javier could feel the ripping pain in his mouth as his teeth were knocked mostly out, one still hanging by its root in his mouth. The man dropped him and spit on the ground, leaving as if this was just a chore he had completed. _

_Javier tried to push himself up, feeling his face already starting to swell and his mouth filling with blood. The tooth that was still there hurt more than the one gone. Bracing himself by holding onto the same pipe that he had just been slammed into; he reached into his mouth and grabbed the hanging one. Immediately a flash of pain traveled through his mouth as he got a hold of it. Javier closed his eyes and yanked._


	17. Chapter 16

**Interruption**

Hey guys, sorry I couldn't update yesterday, I was sick and internet was down. But, MS was working, and I was immensely bored. So, because I had recently watched Titanic, I decided to do a spoof with Homestar Runner and Titanic, because at the moment I'm in a writers block for the other story. I got 15,000 words done in one day! So, most likely I'll post that story after this one just for the shits and giggles. Well, it's not really a spoof, but I like how it came out so far. Anyway, I've got to go. Wish me luck, I have a big essay to write today!

No reviews.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 16**

Or do you hope, when sing the violins,  
And the pale candle-flame lights up our sins,  
To drive some mocking nightmare far apart,  
And cool the flame hell lighted in your heart?

-Charles Baudelaire

The table was quiet that morning, their mom had already left and only the Strong's and The Cheat sat there. Strong Sad, Strong Mad, and The Cheat were subdued from the screams last night; while Javier ate cereal like nothing had happened, chewing with real and fake teeth that the doctors had put in place of the missing ones.

"Well," The Cheat started, obviously trying to break the silence. "At least it's Thanksgiving break."

"Thank heavens." Javier agreed. "I thought school was never going to end. The silence returned to the table and Javier looked at them curiously. "What's the matter with you guys?" He joked. "Cat got your tongue?"

Strong Mad spoke up first. "Strong Bad, are your dreams usually as bad as they ones you've been having lately?"

Ah. So that was what they were worried about. "Usually." He shrugged. "Sometimes worse, sometimes less." Even Strong Sad seemed to pity him. Great, he was receiving pity from Strong Sad, something was definitely wrong with him. "Guys, I'm fine." Javier said forcefully, glaring around the table.

"Were they this bad when you stayed at Homestar's?" Strong Mad asked again.

Javier let out an 'eh'. "Kind of, only when I slept by myself though."

"By yourself?" Strong Sad echoed, confused.

He blushed, guessing that The Cheat hadn't mentioned this part to him. "Homestar's cousin Homsar is living with them at the moment." Javier started off, watching his big brothers reactions. "Me and Homestar had to share a bed while he took Michaels room."

The Cheat looked at him in disbelief. "As in... Like, sleeping next to each other? In the same bed?"

Javier nodded. "We didn't do anything." He droned to Strong Mad, who looked ready to panic at the thought he was 'sleeping' with Homestar. "He was close by in case I had any nightmares, and they just sort of stopped happening.

Strong Mad looked ready to say something before he shook his head. "I'm not even going to bother to try and understand." He muttered, taking a bite of pancakes.

* * *

_Michelle?" The Cheat called, looking back and forth down the street. _

_The child wailed again. "Big brother!" Immediately The Cheat started running down the street towards the sound of the voice, eyes wide and heart thumping. No, he wouldn't let this happen, not again. _

_He skidded around the corner to see the seven year old. She was walking down peacefully, not even acknowledging her panicked older brother or how she had cried out for him no more than a minute ago. Stopping at the intersection, she looked both ways before starting to cross the street. A scream bubbled up in his throat and he tried to run over to pull her back. Before he could however, a car came tearing down the street, colliding with his little sister. _

_The nine year old stood in front of the dead body, staring in disbelief at the blood that was starting to spread across the asphalt. His heart felt like it had stopped pumping. _

* * *

The Cheat leafed through the newspaper boredly, looking at the many articles. No, not today either. He put it down and sighed, walking to the door. Strong Bad looked up from where he was cooking breakfast. "Going out for a walk?" He questioned.

He nodded, not in the mood to talk with his friend. After the door had closed behind him The Cheat started walking his normal route all across the town, making sure to pass by every hot spot for missing person posters. He didn't recognize this behavior as he did it; he thought it was just a nice way of getting fresh air. One part of town he made sure to avoid, a four way intersection.

Years ago a young girl had been hit there when the traffic lights weren't working properly. She had been his sister, Michelle. They had been a happy family before that; but... After the accident, things went down hill. His parents started to drink to forget, and The Cheat wanted to stay away from anyplace that reminded him of her. He...

Shaking away the memories, he focused on the cars that passed by.

The drinking started getting more frequent and his mom started to forget things. By things, he meant himself. It was partly due to the fact that he probably looked a lot like his sister. When he had seen the corpse it felt like he had just seen himself die. His mom was trying to block out the painful memories of her daughter, and in the process blocked out parts of the memories of her son. The onslaught of beer stole away her morals as well, leaving her with the cussing ability of a sailor at any**body** and any**thing**.

His dad had taken it in a quieter manner. Rarely speaking, he went to and from his job, sitting in front of the TV when he wasn't at work. His mom still tried to please him, cleaning the house spotless every day to try to earn a single compliment, and every day he would walk past it and to the couch to stare unseeingly at the screen.

The Cheat didn't blame his parents. Of course he didn't, it had been tough on them all. He felt a yearning to go home, but he wouldn't submit. This was a battle of wills, and he would win. He would show them they needed him more than he needed them.

* * *

As he walked he only found one poster, which was one more than usual. Heading over quickly to see if it was his, he sighed in disappointment. It was asking for some girl named Audrey. Then he noticed another thing. Name.

Name.

He racked through his brain, trying to remember. The Cheat knew that his nickname wasn't actually his name but… What was? He had been called 'boy', 'bastard', 'son of a bitch', and many other endearing titles, but none that would be his own. No one at school knew his name; they called him The Cheat. After nearly thirteen years he doubted they would remember anyway. The Cheat stared at the poster blankly, not seeing his surroundings anymore as comprehension dawned on him.

He had forgotten his own name.

* * *

Javier looked up as The Cheat came back in, looking as if he had run all the way here. "What's wrong?" He asked, getting up to put his now empty dish in the sink.

"My name," He started off, out of breath. "Do you remember my name?"

"The Cheat?" Javier said, confused at what he was talking about.

This seemed to perplex the teenager even more, and he raced downstairs towards his room. Strong Bad stared after him, worried. He needed to leave though; he and Homestar had agreed to meet together and tell Ms. Runner together. He wasn't going to leave him to do it by himself.

Pulling on his coat, he grabbed the keys for the car and headed outside in the cold. After starting up the minivan he pulled out of the driveway and arrived at Homestar's no more than ten minutes later. He parked it on the side of the street, out of the way, and went up to the front door and knocked.

Ms. Runner opened it. "Javier, you know you shouldn't have to knock." She chastised in a joking manner. "You're welcome here anytime." He wondered if she would still be able to say that later, but who knew. "Maybe you can explain to me why Michael's been so antsy today."

Javier rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's behavior before looking back at her. "Can Homestar and I talk to you for a few minutes?" He asked politely. Ms. Runner gave him a curious look but nodded. Javier smiled and quickly jogged upstairs to get Homestar. Apparently he was pacing his room, as he found out when he opened the door.

The boy jumped but smiled when he saw the other. "Strong Bad!" Homestar gave him a peck on the cheek. "Glad you came now, I don't think I could go much longer without chickening out."

"No way," He said forcefully, practically dragging Homestar out of the room. "I can't get my big bro's permission to date you until both our parents know. My mom knows, we only have yours to take down. Are you ready?!"

"No." Homestar grumbled.

"Good." Javier ignored Homestar's complaint.

Not before very long they were sitting across from the parent, with her looking at them both curiously. "Okay boys," She started off. "What's going on here?"

Homestar went first. "We have something to tell you about mom."

"Oh?"

"Strong Bad and I, we're sort of..." Homestar started off strongly before it got more hesitant. "Going out?" He finished weakly, sounding more like a question than a statement.

Ms. Runner looked at them both with calm eyes and tilted her head slightly. "Michael, can I talk to Javier for a few minutes?"

Homestar nodded and left the room this time, like at the Strong house. Only this time it was different, because he was the one being interrogated instead.

Once her son was out of the room, she immediately started firing questions at him. "How old or young are you compared to Michael", "What are your plans after school?", "What would you do to provide for my son if you two were to live together?" It was all the questions a mom would ask of a fiancé, not a boyfriend. Javier's head spun, she asked questions so quickly he only had a brief time to answer with no chance to make the answer pampered.

After she was done she looked at him with a critical eye, much different from the motherly gaze she usually held. "What makes you think you're worth my son?"

This was it, the million dollar question.

"I'm not." He answered truthfully, not thinking about what he was saying. "Homestar deserves so much better than what I can give him, even if I'll do my best every day."

Ms. Runner actually seemed satisfied with that answer. "You don't think your something your not." She smiled, though this time it was more nerve wracking than calming. "That's a good thing; you're in this for more than a one night stand. I take it Michael has already told you about how he believes in abstinence?"

Javier nodded. "I'm interested in that," He said. "Naturally, I'm a guy. It's not what's most important though, and I have all the time in the world to wait until both of us are ready."

Homestar looked into the room now. "Are you guys done?" He asked hesitantly.

Ms. Runner nodded and he came down to sit next to Javier. "Well, I think you've got yourself a keeper." She smiled and Homestar beamed. "I'm actually not that surprised about you two."

"Really?" Javier said in surprise.

She gave him a deadpan stare. "I'm not oblivious."

"Okay, in that case," Javier started, a similar smiled starting to spread across his face. It must have been contagious. "Would all of you like to come over to our place for Thanksgiving? My big bro said I could invite you over if we told both of our parents."

Ms. Runner tilted her head. "How did your mom take it?" She asked.

Javier shrugged. "I think she's in a sort of denial. I just told her I'm going out with a guy; she's in shock at the possibility of not having grandchildren from me."

Homestar turned to his mom. "Can we go out to Marshmallows Last Stand?" He asked.

She held up her arms in mock surrender. "You're both eighteen aren't you? Go have fun; you don't need my permission for anything."

Well, she had a point. Javier stood up and stretched, Homestar following suit. He made sure to avoid looking at the free sight of Homestar bending over to touch his toes. Ms. Runner was still in the room after all, no need to completely ruin his chance.

They grabbed their coats and headed out the door. Once they were safely in the car and driving away they broke out laughing. "Dude, you're mom should be an interrogator!" Javier said, wiping a tear away from his eye. "Was my brother that bad?"

Homestar shook his head. "No way, I was listening from the other room. You're brother was still in shock when he tried to give the dating interrogation to me, it was really easy to pass. I'm sure I'll have to deal with him eventually if this relationship continues."

"Continues?" Javier said in surprise, a hint of worry lacing his words.

"No, I'm not saying I want to break up, not at all!" Homestar clarified, waving his hands. "It's just that we're not married, we could break up with each other at any time."

Javier saw his point and shrugged. "Not if I have my word on it." He grinned.

Homestar just nodded, knowing that he wouldn't give up without a decent fight to keep this thing alive.

They pulled into the parking lot and got out, walking into the restaurant. Their usual waiter wasn't there, instead a young girl no more than twenty four waited on them. "What happened to the other guy?" Homestar questioned. He had been there almost all the time, even being their waiter on his date with Peter before The Cheat knocked him out.

She shrugged. "Apparently he's been tried on attacking a kid." She said, a southern accent lacing her words. "That little guy they found down at the park?"

Wow, karma really bit The Cheat in the butt. "I'll take a cheese burger." Javier ordered, handing her the menu. Homestar ordered as well and handed her his menu as well.

_Wow those waiter outfits are skimpy._ He acknowledged, watching her walk away for a second before turning back to Homestar. He started talking animatedly about what had been happening in school that week, using hand gestures to demonstrate. Javier wondered how long it had been ago he had started thinking of it as endearing instead of annoying. He also wondered if Homestar was Italian with the inability to talk without using his hands, then remembered that he was related to Homeschool, so he was probably Russian.

* * *

_The Cheat stood in the line, waiting for the people ahead of him to pass by the coffin. He was at the end in a suit and tie, blonde hair combed neatly. His mom cried off to the side while the dad stood in silence, not comforting his wife but staring at the coffin in disbelief._

_When it was his turn he walked up to where it was open, looking inside._

_The first thing that went through his head was that she didn't look like she was sleeping, contrary to popular belief. The arms over her chest did not in fact make her look peaceful but like she was pleading. Michelle's eyes remained closed as he waited, expecting them to open and for his sister to jump out at him._

_It didn't happen, and eventually he turned away from the scene. He avoided his parents. The Cheat didn't want to be here, he didn't want to acknowledge the death. He wanted life to go on normally. Kids at school were being careful around him, and teachers gave him pitying looks when they thought he wasn't looking._

_The Cheat didn't want their pity._

_Slowly they started to lower the coffin into the hole. He didn't stay around to watch, instead walking away and yanking off his tie. He wouldn't admit her death, that was giving in. Tomorrow he would wake up and she would be in the bed on the other side of the room._

_The Cheat didn't pause to consider that he had been thinking in this mindset the day before, and the day before, and the day before._

_When he turned seventeen he would still be expecting to see her when he opened his eyes. Michelle couldn't have died._

* * *

"Morning." The Cheat yawned, walking into the living room. Strong Bad looked up and gave a tired grin, waving his hello since he was apparently too lazy just to say it out loud. "Where's the newspaper?"

Strong Bad shrugged and went back to watching TV. "I think Strong Mad threw it out after he was done reading it."

A spike of panic made him freeze, staring at the other boy. "Did the trash guys come yet?"

He gave him a weird look. "Yeah, of course they did, why?"

The Cheat started panicking. What if today was the day his parents put an ad searching for him in the paper, he would miss it! He couldn't-

He raced out of the room, going outside to first check the trashcan. Swearing loudly when he saw it was indeed empty, he started running down the street to the nearest store. He could lift a newspaper from there to check.

He saw the store coming up quickly, but he skidded to a stop, staring ahead of him. A few cars drove past as the stoplight turned green, then red again afterward.

Backing up, he looked for another way to get to the story. He wouldn't go this way, Michelle had been-

Ignoring the thought, he started walking quickly down the street until he found another way to cross the street, away from the intersection.

The Cheat entered the building a few minutes later with at sigh of relief. He had managed to outwit the inanimate road. Strolling casually into the store, he lingered through the alleys of snacks, lifting about four candy bars and three sodas. Last he grabbed a newspaper. The man had been reading a magazine, not paying attention to him. The Cheat felt a little ticked off that the man didn't notice him when he was standing at the counter. Couldn't really blame him though, he just reached the height of the counter, barely any higher. He coughed loudly and the man looked up, confused when he saw no one. "Down here." The Cheat stood up on his top toes and put the newspaper on the counter, pulling out a few dollars to pay for it.

Owners were always less suspicious of you stealing if you've bought something. The man didn't even blink as he handed his change to him and went back to reading the playboy hidden inside the financial magazine. The Cheat snickered after he was outside the store. Sucker.

Gloating in his victory, he didn't pay attention to when he was walking, colliding with a person as he rounded the corner. He swore colorfully after landing on his bottom. "Watch where you're going!" The Cheat snapped, rubbing his arm painfully and feeling his chest start to hurt from the impact.

"Sorry!"

He blinked in surprise at the voice. "Marzipan?"

She stood up, brushing some dirt off of her pants. "Oh, The Cheat, it's you!" She helped him onto his feet. "I didn't see you there, how are you doing?"

The Cheat shrugged. "Same old, same old."

Marzipn was going to say something before she caught sight of his chest. "You're bleeding!" She said in astonishment. He looked down at his shirt. Shit, she was right. She grabbed his hand and started leading him down the street. "Come on, I'm fixing you up."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"Of course, you get to say yes."

Marzipan shook her head as she forced The Cheat to take off his shirt and jacket. "What in the world did you do to yourself?" She chastised, starting to clean the blood that had begun to cake.

The Cheat shrugged, shivering at the feel of the cold cloth on his skin. "Just rough housing." He lied.

She rolled her eyes, washing the blood out of the cloth before going back to cleaning the wound. "I know a knife wound when I see one" He didn't answer and she sighed in defeat, grabbing the gauze and starting to wrap it around his chest. Once she was done she stood up fully from her kneeling position. "I'm going to work on getting the bloodstains out of your shirt, help yourself to the TV."

When she left the room he picked up the remote and flipped it on. Animal Planet, of course. He flipped the channel to MTV and Marzipan walked out, obviously forcing herself not to listen to the abrasive language. "Where did you get the food from?" She questioned, sitting down daintily.

"Lifted it off the store." He offered a Snickers to her.

Marzipan looked at the candy. "You mean it's stolen?" She asked in surprise, shaking her head at the offer.

"I thought this was your favorite candy?" He waved it in front of her teasingly. "Come on, you know you want it. It's already stolen so there's no harm in it."

She obviously tried to resist, but eventually gave in. "Thanks." She opened the wrapper and took a bite, closing her eyes at the sweet taste. "How did you know I liked Snickers?"

The Cheat shrugged, looking away and playing it casual. "Lucky guess." He started to get up. "I should probably get going, Strong Mad's probably worrying I got kidnapped."

She walked him to the door to make sure he was all right. "I enjoyed you coming over, even if our… tastes are different." Obviously she was referring to the channel the TV was currently on.

He grinned before leaving. "Who knows, maybe when we run into each other again I won't be bleeding like a stuffed pig"


	18. Chapter 17

**Interruption**

So, how is everyone? Things are going-a-good over here, working on HR fanfics because I'm a complete and utter dork that has no life. By the way! Titanic crossover is done. Mostly I did it for myself, but if you people want me to post it here, say so in a review. If there's no responses I'll assume no one wants to read it (not that I blame you). Man, in our English class, our awesome teacher had to leave. Now we have this icky new once. Bleh. Is there anything else happening? By the way, I blame this picture: http:// badpirate . deviantart . com/art/HR-I-got-my-rock-moves-99185390 . You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. THANKS A LOT MUSACHAN D: S'all good though. Never heard the song until then. So, yeah. Enough of my rambling, enjoy!

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 17**

Things you'll see, terrible things,  
All dancing before your eyes.  
For life has given you once more,  
A nightmare in disguise.

-Jason Meres

_The man grabbed him and sneered. His face was close enough to make out the tiniest details, and the breath was hot and rancid. Javier had basically consented at this point, limp and broken, eyes blank. As he brought out the knife you could tell it was what the man lived for, that spark of panic and fear that would flash through the victim's eyes._

_The moment of fruitless struggled amused him before he sunk the knife into the boys calf muscle. Javier screamed at the white hot metal that plunged into this leg, brushing past the bone before emerging on the other side. The man reveled in the screams of pain before yanking it back out, hot blood clinging to the blade. The rivets of blood were already bubbling and running down his leg from the wound, and the pain was blinding._

* * *

"Strong Bad, can you get the turkey?" Javier quickly put down the mashed potatoes and ran to the oven, grabbing the hot mitts. He pulled out the turkey, quickly setting it on top of the stove.

He drew his hands away quickly, cursing. "Shit, shit." Javier blew on his hand and waved it in the air, cooling the area of the burn.

Strong Mad walked in when he had finally stopped jumping around, this time stirring the gravy. The man shook his head at him. "An apron?" He asked in disbelief. "Seriously?"

Javier immediately glared at him. "Don't diss my apron. Do you know how much it hurts when you get hot food spilled all over you and you're not wearing a shirt?"

He gave him an exasperated look. "Then wear a shirt."

"And get the few shirts I actually own covered in food? I need to have something to go to school in, the teachers would kick me out."

Strong Mad shook his head, giving up and going out to the dining room to set up the table. The Cheat passed through the kitchen as well, carrying a large tablecloth that practically covered him. "Need help?"

He shook his head. After he had dropped it off with Strong Mad he came back into the kitchen. "So who's coming?" The Cheat asked, sitting on the kitchen counter away from the chaos of the kitchen.

"My parents, me, Strong Mad, Strong Sad, you, Homestar, Ms. Runner, Homsar, Marzipan, Pom Pom, Pom Pom's parents, and I think that's it."

The Cheat looked at the two large turkeys, one of them having been pulled out earlier. "This is crazy." He said.

"My mom's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving." Javier explained, handing The Cheat a bowl of corn to bring out to the table. "Plus she wanted to meet Homestar and his mom."

He cocked his head. "How long have you been going out?"

Javier guessed he still wasn't entirely comfortable with the thought, judging by the look of mild disgust on his face. "If you're counting since Peter and him broke up, about two weeks. Not that long really." He really felt bad for The Cheat. He had just had his best friend admit he had the hots for a guy they had picked on for almost four years, it was understandable. Of course, Strong Mad didn't really count as The Cheat's best friend. Strong Mad treated him like a little brother. Maybe it was because he looked so young; it must have reminded him of when he and Strong Sad were that little. He wouldn't hesitate to beat down anyone who threatened his adopted little brother. The only reason the parents were still standing was because The Cheat hadn't told him what they did to him.

The last of the dishes were heading to the table when the doorbell rang. The Cheat ran to greet it first, Homestar, Homsar, and Ms. Runner walking in smiling and carrying their own Thanksgiving dishes. Mrs. Strong went over to talk to Ms. Runner and show her around the house, and Mr. Strong guided Homestar to the patio outside to obviously give the intimidation talk that all parents had too.

Next Pom Pom came in with his parents. The Cheat made sure to always be the one who got the door, Javier noticed, and he wasn't sure why. Marzipan was the last one to arrive and The Cheat grinned when he saw her, inviting her inside the house.

Ah, so that was it.

Pretending not to have seen, he turned off the oven and went to talk to Homestar, who had just finished talking to his dad. He was pale and looked shaken. "That was a lot harder than talking to your brother." He managed to say.

Javier laughed and shrugged. "That's my dad for ya. Don't worry yourself too much though, he just acts tough."

Homestar was about to say something when he caught sight of what Javier was wearing. He tried to keep from giggling, but failed and burst out laughing, clutching at his sides. "What in the world are you wearing?" He managed to gasp out.

He threw his hands in the air. "I didn't want to get food on my clothes!" Javier said fruitlessly, much to the laughter of the other.

"So you pick one with **flowers **on it?"

"Shut up." He muttered, taking off the apron. He was done cooking anyway.

Homestar just chuckled again, giving Javier a quick kiss. "You looked fine." He reassured. "I just never expected to see you wearing an apron with flowers on it. Do I need to get you one with a 'kiss the cook' on the front?"

His face was hot. "Mine's in the washer, I had to borrow moms."

They went into the dining room, where everyone was already sitting down. Homsar was chatting to Strong Sad, who had finally come down from his room to join them. He guessed they were talking about board games, they had become close friends and Homsar always went over to play with Strong Sad. His dad sat at the head of the table, his mom and Ms. Runner sitting on opposite sides. Marzipan sat down across from Strong Bad, who sat reluctantly between Strong Sad and Homestar. Pom Pom was about to take the seat between Strong Mad and Marzipan, but retreated at the withering glare of The Cheat. He took the seat in victory, Marzipan not noticing the battle behind her. Pom Pom sat on the other side of her across from Homestar. Mr. and Mrs. Pomagran sat across from each other on each side of Mrs. Strong and Ms. Runner.

Once everyone was seated, his dad coughed to grab everyone's attention. The chatter died down slowly and eyes turned to look at him. He looked around the table. "At this rate we're going to have to get a bigger table." He joked, the rest of the table laughing. "I'm glad that we're all here. We have a lot to thank god for, and to pray that we stay safe for the rest of the year." The table was quiet now, listening solemnly to the words.

His father started off in prayer. "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done," the table started to join in as well, murmuring the prayer. "On earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And least us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen." He lifted his glass, wine swirling. "To family and friends."

The rest of the table lifted their glasses and took a drink, the depressive air starting to lift as friends talked.

"Thanks for coming." The Cheat said cheerfully, walking Marzipan to the door. Javier just watched them with a smirk, sitting on the couch with his arm around Homestar. The Cheat obviously thought no one was watching.

Marzipan smiled politely. "Thank you for inviting me, I really enjoyed myself. We need to get together sometime to just talk."

This seemed to be what he was waiting for. "We could meet up at a cafe sometime." He offered. "Like Starbucks."

"That sounds great." She said, pulling an old receipt out of her pocket. "Hold on, let me give you my number so you can call me." After searching for a pencil for a minute, she scribbled the numbers on the paper, handing it to him.

The Cheat took the paper and gave her his number as well. After saying goodbye, he came back into the living room, sitting on the couch across from them.

"So," Javier started off coyly. "Marzipan?"

The Cheat blushed. "Shut up." He muttered.

Homestar looked over at him, eyes lidded and sleepy. "You've got a crush on Marzipan?" He asked in surprise.

"You didn't notice?" Javier was enjoying making his friend embarrassed. "They were talking all dinner; it was a wonder if the rest of us got more than a few words directed towards us."

The Cheat just huffed and crossed his arms, ignoring them. Ms. Runner came in not more than a minute later, smiling at the two on the couch. "Homestar, we have to go home."

The boy sighed, getting up. "See you later." He said, hugging Javier goodbye.

Javier just smiled and snuck a quick kiss from a view point where Ms. Runner couldn't see. "Tomorrow?" He asked hopefully.

"Tomorrow." Homestar agreed, heading to the door with his mom.

After they left it was time to head to bed. The Pomagrams had not left too long before Marzipan, and now the family was the only ones still in the house. His mom had already cleaned up the table and Strong Mad retired for bed a little earlier, knowing that he would have to get up early tomorrow to start packing. He would have to go back to college soon.

The Cheat and him retired to their respective beds, Javier in his room and The Cheat moving to the couch.

After brushing his teeth, he debated whether or not he should have a shower. _I __**will**__ be seeing Homestar tomorrow._ Finally deciding, he turned on the water and started to strip, waiting for the water to get hot. Leaving his boxers on the counter to grab once he was out of the shower, he stepped under the steaming water, muscles relaxing and releasing the tension that had been building up.

He sighed and started to wash his hair, skin burning at the hot temperature. Javier debated whether or not he should cut his hair soon but decided against it, liking the look of when it was dry. After his hair was clean he moved to washing the rest of his body. Javier scrubbed at his skin with the soap, making sure to keep his eyes locked on the showerhead. He didn't like to look at his body when he was nude; it reminded him of when he was in that place, the scars standing out against the skin.

People obviously believed that he didn't notice when their gazes lingered on his scars. It was painfully obvious, and it made him wish he could die at times. It was the worst though when a new person saw them, the look of horror and the obvious suppression of a cry of terror. Even with people like Bubs he could see the pity in their eyes. He hated it, he didn't want their pity. They thought they understood and they didn't. The only one who hadn't given him that look so far had been Homestar. He had something different in his eyes. Similar to pity, but not exactly. If anything the look was one of understanding, like he wanted to help him.

Turning off the shower, he stepped out and dried himself with a towel. He shivered at the onslaught of cold air and quickly slid into his boxers, walking to his bed. Javier fell onto the comforter with a large whoosh of breath, rolling under the sheets and hugging a pillow. He missed sleeping with Homestar, but this would have to do for now. Slowly starting to drift to sleep, he wondered if it was normal that he wasn't as scared of having nightmares any more. Well, they were still scary, but almost like a fact that came with sleeping.

* * *

_He could barely see what was happening, blood dripping into his eyes. Javier squinted, trying too look around to see where he was. The man appeared almost out of thin air, brandishing the blade again with a sadistic grin. The thing had become his best friend after the third day of entrapment._

_"Let's carve up that pretty little face of yours."_

* * *

Javier woke up screaming, struggling against the hand holding him with a kick and a punch. The man jumped back, obviously trying not to get hit. It didn't register in Javier's mind that he wasn't carrying a knife.

He curled away from him, sobs wracking his body. One of his hands had drifted to his face, feeling the bumps that ran along his the skin smoothly in patterns. "Please don't." He cried as the man came closer, making gestures with his hands. "Stay away from me!" Javier kicked out at him again, this time making a hit. The man fell back and immediately backed away from the hysterical boy.

Slowly the sobs died down and he stopped shivering, laying limp in the bed and staring unseeingly at the wall across from him. His hand had fallen away from his face as the memories rushed back to him. It had already happened; there was nothing he could do about it. The scars slashed on his forehead and cheeks, making a clear cross over his nose and to then trailing back to reach the end of his mouth.

Javier felt like he wanted to die.

* * *

"Strong Mad, can you not stay so close to me when you're trying to wake me up?" Strong Bad asked the next morning, eating his cereal contently.

Strong Mad gave him a strange look. "What's up?"

He just kind of shrugged. "You just kind of remind me of Senor Cardgage when I'm in the middle of a dream." Strong Bad muttered, obviously wanting to drop the subject.

The Cheat watched how the older brother's expression changed to one of horror. "Strong Bad, I would never-"

"I'm not saying you would." Strong Bad immediately said, looking at him with a subdued expression. "It's just I have trouble telling what's a dream and what's reality when I'm waking up, I always imagine that you're him."

He seemed cowed by what his little brother said, staring at the breakfast in front of him. The Cheat finished his breakfast quickly, standing and grabbing his dishes to put in the sink. He felt bad for Strong Mad, he was just doing what he thought was best. The Cheat wondered if Strong Bad would go back to sleeping at Homestar's place after Strong Mad wasn't there to enforce that he had to stay there. The nightmares were bad; they had yet to go through one night without the screaming waking them up. But now with them dating it would be awkward to others to be sleeping in the same bed.

He finished washing the dish and put it in the dishwasher, closing it. "I'm heading out." The Cheat called, grabbing his coat.

Strong Bad smirked. "Going for a date of some sort?" He drawled. "Couldn't imagine who."

"Shut the hell up Strong Bad." The Cheat glared at him, cheeks red. Ignoring the other boys laugh, he closed the door behind him and started walking down the street towards Starbucks. Then he caught sight of the time on his watch. "Shit, I'm going to be late!" He panicked, starting to run down the street before something caught his eye. A police car.

He wondered whether or not he should, before deciding he didn't care. The Cheat grinned as he jogged over to the car. By some insane stroke of luck, the cop had actually left his keys in the car. He climbed through the open window and plopped onto the seat, looking over the dashboard.

Turning the key, The Cheat quickly rolled up the windows. They were blacked out so no one would notice the twelve-year-old looking boy if they looked at the car. After he pulled out, he started driving in the direction of the cafe. He wanted so badly to turn on the lights and siren, but there was no need to attract attention.

The only thing that was annoying was how the cars around him slowed when they saw him coming. It wasn't making him go any faster. Then again, he couldn't complain, it was better than walking.

Seeing Starbucks coming up, he pulled into a parking lot nearby, getting out and leaving the keys on the seat inside. He was a trouble maker, yes, but not a serious thief. The cop would find his car. Eventually.

He jogged over to the cafe and opened the door, looking around to see where Marzipan was. She was reading a book in a corner, a steaming coffee next to her. The Cheat smiled and bought his own drink, heading over to the table.

Marzipan looked up when she heard him coming and smiled. "There you are; I was wondering if you were going to be late."

"Well, you know." He shrugged. "I have a way of getting to where I need to be."

She raised an eyebrow at that but put down the book to talk.

* * *

"Maybe we can go out again." The Cheat asked hopefully, walking out the door with Marzipan. She smiled at that, obviously glad he asked.

"Sounds good." She agreed. "How about after school Tuesday? I don't have any plans then."

The Cheat nodded. "I'll call you later?" He offered. She nodded, and they separated to walk to their own houses. He had an ecstatic smile on his face. That was really nice; usually girls were whiny and annoying. Plus they always expected you to pay. When The Cheat had offered out of habit, Marzipan had said that she wasn't old fashioned and that she would pay. It was a good change to meet an self-sufficient woman, not someone who relied on the guy all the time. Made his job a lot easier.

He passed the parking lot where he had parked the car, seeing the group of police men that had appeared there not more than two minutes ago. They seemed confused to find the car in perfect shape. Probably expecting it to be beaten up from some stupid teenager's joy ride.

He stifled a laugh at that. Suckers. The Cheat really didn't want to go home to do homework, so he just continued walking the streets on his normal route. The newspaper would be waiting on the table at home, after he had made sure to explain this to Strong Mad.

* * *

Javier walked down the stairs a few minutes after The Cheat had left, stretching as he continued to wake up. His mom and dad had run out for groceries and Strong Mad was forcing Strong Sad to go outside for a while, so they went to the park. He really had become an overprotective big brother.

He then paused to consider how he was alone in his house. This screamed so many opportunities. To check, he walked around the house to make sure he was the only one there. Once Javier was sure he was alone, he grinned and pulled out his iPod, plugging it into his computer and digging into the deep recesses of the multitude of songs.

* * *

The Cheat stared in disbelief as he walked in the door, his jaw dropping and eyes wide. Strong Bad hadn't noticed him yet, still dancing and singing to the music, a hair brush being his microphone. He jumped up on a couch, flicking the middle finger to no one and practically shouting the lyrics as the song blared through the house. "So so what? I'm still a rock star! I got my rock moves! And I don't need~ you~,"

"Strong Bad?!" The Cheat shouted. Strong Bad jumped in surprise, falling backwards off the couch and landing on his back. He looked at The Cheat like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

The Pink music continued blaring as the two stared at each other. "Aren't you supposed to be on your date?" Strong Bad accused, scrambling to turn off the music and hide the iPod.

"I was." The Cheat continued staring at him. "I got there early, so we didn't stay that long. What... Was that seriously **Pink**?"

Strong Bad was blushing and looked away, embarrassed. "I only like that song." He muttered, trying to save whatever little masculinity he had left.

The Cheat opened his mouth to say something, closed it, opened it again, then gave up and shook his head. "Wow... I mean really, wow." He took off his jacket and hung it on the old fashioned coat hanger. "I mean, I know apparently you like guys, but I didn't think you were **that** gay."

"The song's not gay!" Strong Bad defended furiously.

"It's talking about how she's getting over her **boy**friend." The Cheat put emphasis on the word boy. "That songs for girls."

He crossed his arms stubbornly. "It's a good song." Strong Bad muttered angrily, pouting like a child.

* * *

"Whatever dude." The Cheat left the room after grabbing a beer from the fridge.

Javier was about to say something about how he shouldn't drink when the doorbell rang. He jogged over to the door and opened it, blinking when he saw Homestar. "Hey, ready to go?" The boy asked.

"Yup!" Javier threw a shirt on and grabbed a jacket, putting his wallet in the pocket. "Have any ideas where we should head?"

"There's a baseball game at the stadium, want to go check it out?" Homestar asked, hands jammed in his pockets. "I pay this time."

He nodded. "Sounds good. In exchange though, I get to bring you to a boxing match." Javier grinned. "It's a lot of fun."

Homestar snickered. "I would figure you would be more into wrestling."

Javier, obviously not catching onto what Homestar meant, just replied. "That's more Strong Mad's thing."


	19. Chapter 18

**Interruption**

Jeeze, was anyone else having trouble logging in? Main reason I wasn't able to get to updating Monday. I've been checking every hour and finally I'm able to get on. Anyway, another manic Monday yesterday. Grandpa fell down while he was leaving the bank and broke his arm at the join of the elbow, bone sticking out. He got out of surgery about 2:00 am this morning so... Yeah. Other than that it's all good :D Heads up, excluding the Titanic drabble, I'm working on two stories right now just for fun, but I wanted to get your guys opinions. Which should I work on first to put up on FFnet? A version of Dangeresque 3 (which you'll have to forgive me for being a lot off, I can't afford the game D:), or a super-hero's one? As you can tell, I've been disappointed by Heroes lately, so I've been drabbling my own superheroes one, which is okay and fun. Jessie's saying that's the darkest one I've written so far though. So far. I love how she put that. Anyway, put in a vote, I'm choosing by your guys suggestions. And an explanation for later in the story, the people you meet are from a bet I made with my friend for NaNoWriMo. I had to put her characters in my story, even if it was minor. Ends up they were a huge trigger, even if they mysteriously disappear. Anyway, hope you enjoy a little.

Lightskaylaction- Yes :3 Ever since I saw the cartoon Date Nite, I've been giggily about them. They're just... cute. At least, my versions are.

ElevatorMusicINC- Yes, Strong Bad is a sillyface. But yeah, I'll post it, even if it's not that good. Then again, I don't think this is good either, but you people are enjoying it so... OKAY! Yeah, I was surprised by how many people were surprised by my Marzi/Cheat choice.

Zelfase- Oh, now I'm insanely curious to see what pairings you support! I need to practice new couples anyways so... Yeah. By the way, which pairing is the one you don't support? There's two here and I get confused easily D: . Yes, The Cheat is awsome.

ChakramChucker- Yay! I know, I suck at leaving comments too. But aww, I don't get horrible puns? D: I'm hurt. I'm glad I'm not the only one that writes the angsty things too! My friend says compared to what I'm writing now, this is freaken sunshines and rainbows! Wtf? She says I can't get through a story without killing someone.

The Musachan- Aww, another flattering review! Yeah, I have to say out of the whole story The Cheat had the best story line (all though not the most pleasent, as you'll see in this chapter). He had the most thought put in.

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 18 **

Though some faces look familiar  
though some looks remind of names  
though it would take little effort...  
much too cold for friendly games.

-Jason Hart

The Cheat watched TV, bored. There was nothing to do, and Strong Bad was out with Homestar. What to do, what to do?

He pushed himself off the couch and left the house again, locking the door behind him with the key under the lizard statue. The Cheat didn't want to stay inside all day; maybe something exciting would happen if he was out walking.

Wandering the streets for about an hour was almost as boring as staying inside. He wished he could have spent more time with Marzipan, but she had a big English project to finish. She wanted to become an English teacher when she grew up. The Cheat wasn't sure what he wanted to be. He was pretty good with cars, maybe a mechanic?

As he was contemplating this a car pulled into a gas station next to him. A large group of people scrambled out of the van, stretching their cramped muscles. The van caught his eye and he froze, staring at it in shock. It was large and it was dented on the front of it. The Cheat started to walk over in a daze, not realizing it as he did.

He went up to the girl that got out of the drivers seat, staring at her with wide eyes. She noticed him after a second and gave him a hesitant look. "Can I help you? Are you looking for your mom?" She asked.

"Do you own this van?" The Cheat asked, looking at her with blank eyes.

She nodded and something inside of him finally snapped. The Cheat lunged at her with an animalistic cry, grabbing onto her and slamming them both into the pavement. Shouts were coming from all around him but he couldn't see, his eyes narrowed in fury and pain.

_The van came barreling down, colliding with the seven year old girl. It slowed for a minute, a dent appearing from where it had collided, before it continued to drive away. They didn't stay to see if the girl was okay. Screams echoed around him and he stared at the body, the sounds of the ambulance rapidly coming closer._

"You killed my sister!" He screamed, punching her wherever he could. The vengeance that had been building up was boiling over and he snarled at her, face furious despite the tears.

It didn't take long for the rest of them to react, a boy pulling him off and slamming him against the side of the car. The metal seemed to burn against his back and he could hear the screech of the tires on the pavement as it collided with Michelle. The Cheat struggled furiously, screaming profanities and accusations at the girl, tears continuing to stream down his face.

"The hell's your problem?" The boy yelled at him, fist ready to punch the boy.

"Julian, look." The teenager named Julian looked down at The Cheat's shirt, staring in horror at the blood that was already forming in a puddle beneath The Cheat. Dropping him quickly, Julian backed away and started babbling. "I didn't even touch him!"

The Cheat didn't even try to get up now, kneeling in the puddle of blood that soaked his shirt from the ripped wounds. He had broken down completely now, sobbing at the memories that didn't stop, shaking and wrapping his arms around himself.

Another guy was helping the girl he had attacked get up, and he felt like he wanted to be sick. A woman had started to approach him cautiously, waiting for the boy to snap again and attack her. When he didn't she leaned down and put her arm around him. "Honey, what's wrong? Why are you bleeding? Why are you attacking Audrey?"

He choked at the feeling of the arm around him. The Cheat hadn't had someone do this to him since the day Michelle died. His mom never comforted him after that, just ignoring him or beating him if he cried. "N-Nine years a-ago," The Cheat tried to speak through the tears. "M-My s-s-sister was hit b-by this car and k-k-" He couldn't say it and buried his face in his hands with another wail of distress.

The rest of the people were gathered around him and staring at the scene with wide eyes. Slowly the mom started to calm him down, rocking him slightly back and forth and whispering soothing words. She had to be a parent of some sort, to know how to calm down a child this well, even if the child was really seventeen. The ring of people prevented others from seeing what was happening in the circle, even though it was deserted.

After a few minutes the sobs subdued to a few sniffles, even though the boy kept shaking and clung to the mother's shirt. His face was buried in the shirt as he was rocked comfortingly.

He pulled away shakily and looked at the shirt. "I'm sorry," The Cheat muttered, referring to the blood stains.

"It's okay; just tell us why you attacked her."

The Cheat looked back up at the stunned girl, scoping out the bruises and cuts with dead eyes. "Eight years ago this van killed my sister, I can tell by the dent on the front of the car." He whispered this and the people stared at him in shock.

"Aren't you, like, twelve?" One girl finally asked, tilting her head curiously.

He shook his head, now gazing at the cement. "Seventeen."

Audrey finally spoke up, "I've only owned this thing for four years."

The Cheat looked up at her in disbelief. "It wasn't you then?"

She shook her head and he slumped, eyes staring unseeingly. "Come on, we'll drive you home." The mother spoke softly, as if he was a bomb waiting to go off. Unwillingly, he stood up and followed like a lost duckling.

* * *

Javier didn't bother to look up when the doorbell rang, Strong Mad already standing up. He walked over to the door and opened it.

He didn't see what was happening but he heard the panicked voice. "The Cheat? Damnit, what happened?" Javier leaned over the seat to watch what was happening. Strong Mad had grabbed The Cheat and was leading him into the house while a woman waited patiently at the door. The Cheat looked blank and didn't answer any of Strong Mad's questions.

Javier jumped up and went over to the woman. "Here, can you come in and tell us what happened?"

She nodded and walked into the house, Javier closing the door behind her. Strong Mad already had the first aid kit and was cleaning off the blood. "This was healing so well too." Strong Mad murmured. The Cheat just shrugged, not bothering to answer. "Ma'am, what in the world** happened**?"

The woman sat down on the couch and nodded to them. "My family was pulling in for gas at a gas station and we were all out stretching. This boy, The Cheat? The Cheat came up and asked Audrey if she owned the van. When she said she did he lost it and attacked her. His wounds tore open in the process and he started to break down."

Javier glanced at her in confusion. "Why would he just attack you?" He echoed Strong Mad's question.

"He said Audrey killed his sister." She explained patiently. "She bought the car four years ago, but he thought it was her that owned it originally."

Strong Mad moaned. "Oh, The Cheat, you need to let go, you're going to tear yourself apart like this."

This finally got a reaction. "I'm not letting go, she's not dead." He said this stubbornly, listening to their conversation in denial.

He looked at his friend in shock. He knew The Cheat had problems after the accident, but he didn't think it was to the extent of not believing what he had seen. This was... Serious.

Strong Mad gave him a concerned look. "We need to get you to a therapist. Obviously it had affected you more than the rest of us thought."

"I'm fine!" The Cheat shouted, jumping up and glaring at Strong Mad. "I don't need no damn therapist!"

Javier spoke softly, forgetting the woman that watched the exchange quietly. "The Cheat, it'll be good for you. It really helped me."

He sneered. "Helped you? You're still having nightmares every night, and he must have turned you into a **faggot**. The Strong Bad I knew would never have been dating the person he hated."

He stared at his friend, the word hitting him like an anvil to the chest. Well, he was, wasn't he? Strong Mad took over, Javier going silent. "Right now you're under our roof." He said strictly. "So you do as we say."

The Cheat backed away from him. "I was just fine not being 'under your roof' before," His voice sounded scared. "I can just leave." He closely resembled an animal that was cornered.

That was the last thing they needed. The weather channel had said it was going to snow tonight, and to sleep in the snow would kill him. All he owned was that one jacket, that wasn't enough to survive. "That's suicide." Javier accused him.

"Exactly." The Cheat said this in a dead voice, and Javier finally got a full view of the damage on his psyche. There was silence and The Cheat grabbed his shirt, still soaked in blood, and headed towards the door. "I don't need my parents, I don't need you guys, I don't need anyone." Grabbing his jacket, he slammed the door behind him.

Strong Mad jumped up. "I need to make an emergency appointment, Strong Bad, go catch The Cheat. Drag him back kicking and screaming if you have to."

Javier nodded, still in shock. He quickly jogged outside. The van was outside, the teenagers watching him through the windows with curious eyes. That wasn't important though. Looking both ways, he followed the footprints. They weren't heading to the park, not directly anyway. The Cheat must have been running because Javier didn't catch up to him. He followed the tracks through the snow looking back and forth for any sign of his friend. He hoped that he was indeed following the path of The Cheat and not someone else, but that thought disappeared when he saw the droplets of blood. So he was on the right path.

Slowly his panic started to increase as he searched through town, sometimes doubling back. He went in a circle once and he wondered why the Cheat was specifically going this way. Was he looking for something?

His cell phone rang and he opened it. "What is it?"

"Have you found him yet?"

"No, I can't find him." His voice was shaking.

"Keep looking, Ms. Corleone offered me a ride to look for him." They hung up and Javier hurried. The sun was starting to set and the temperature was rapidly falling. The sounds of the cars were muffled and he looked up in disdain as it started to snow. This wasn't what he needed.

After about four hours he found The Cheat's jacket, abandoned and soaked.

Him and Strong Mad made calls to each other what seemed like every five minutes, and they still hadn't found anything. Javier racked through his brain desperately for where The Cheat might be, but he couldn't think of anything. Finally he caught sight of the path again. Most of it had been covered by snow, but he could still make out the droplets of blood. Javier practically sprinted in the direction. It was dark out now and the moon rose steadily, undeterred by the panic of the people below her.

Javier was in the city park. Trees hung low, casting long shadows on the shining snow. He looked around everywhere desperately, searching for his friend.

Spotting something yellow, he jogged over and stared in horror at the boy. He looked asleep, curled into a ball in the snow. His lips were blue by this point and his hair fell peacefully over his face. Javier grabbed him, breaking the tranquil scene and shaking him. "Damnit The Cheat, wake up!" The boy was unresponsive and his skin felt like ice to the touch.

Feeling numb, he checked for a pulse. "Thank god." He whispered, calling Strong Mad and picking up his friend.

"Yes?"

"I found him." Javier said, cradling The Cheat in his arms and starting to walk towards the road. "I'm by the south end of the park."

"We'll be there in a minute."

Javier hung him on him and called Homestar. "Hello?" The voice sounded groggy on the other side of the phone.

"Homestar, we need to meet you at the hospital."

"What happened?!"

"The Cheat…" Javier couldn't finish the sentence. The thought of losing his friend was petrifying. "I'll just meet you there."

He could practically see Homestar nod and he hung up. Javier waited on the sidewalk impatiently, trying to warm the cold body. The van practically screeched around the corner and pulled to a jarring stop in front of him. Strong Mad threw open the door, "Get in!"

Javier jumped into the car and the door was shut behind him. Almost before he could grab a seat the car started jostling at full speed to the hospital. He could feel himself shivering but didn't think about it, holding The Cheat closely. The boy looked so peaceful, lips parted slightly and eyes closed.

"Is he still…"

"Ya."

They drove in silence the rest of the way. Strong Mad had his arm around his little brother and they stared at The Cheat in a silent understanding. The rest of the passengers tried to look everywhere but the scene, not being able to give a private moment to the family. One girl finally spoke. "Was he your brother?"

Javier felt a stab of pain in his heart at the 'was'. "No. He's a friend; he was kicked out of his house. He was staying with us until he ran off…"

The silence persisted until they pulled into the parking lot. Immediately chaos erupted as they struggled to get out of the way. Javier, being the faster one, continued holding The Cheat and bolted for the front door of the hospital, Strong Mad behind him. The onslaught of warm air made him shake and he skidded to a stop in front of the lady. "This is an emergency, our friend needs help."

Seeing the condition of the body, she stood up and quickly dialed numbers into the phone, babbling orders frantically. It took no more than a minute before a stretcher was wheeled into the waiting room. Nurses quickly took The Cheat out of his hands and he watched numbly as they hurriedly took him away, shouting orders.

They stared in silence at the doors as they swung closed, and Javier turned away. Sitting down in one of the waiting seats, he cradled his head in his hands and clenched his eyes shut.

The Cheat couldn't die.

* * *

They waited in the waiting room a few hours the family stayed with them, feeling a sort of obligation. Homestar had come after a few minutes and had his arm wrapped around Javier, whispering comforting words.

Javier just continued staring at the ground, ignoring the concerned looks that were sent his way often. The only time he looked up was when a doctor came out, and they went to other waiters.

Finally one doctor came to talk to them. "If you had gotten him in any later he would have died," He said grimly. "But he's pretty stable right now. He had severe hypothermia, frost bite, and a freezing of the cornea's and his eyelashes. We're working on him right now, but it seems like he'll make a recovery."

"At what costs?" Strong Mad demanded.

The doctor shook his head. "He'll probably lose four of his fingers, some of his nose, and the tips of his ears. Considering the damage, that'll be if he's lucky."

"Can we see him?" Javier asked desperately.

He shook his head. "He's not even conscious."

Strong Mad sounded as desperate as Javier. "We don't care; we just need to be sure he's okay."

The doctor hesitated before nodding.

"Fine, you can see him." He led the way through the hallways and Javier felt a stab of depression. He shouldn't have to be back here already. Soon they came to his room and he let them in. The family had waited outside and it was just Homestar, Strong Mad and him. The doctor left quietly.

The Cheat looked so small in the large bed, tubes of warm liquid being pumped into him. His skin had started to regain color except for certain patches, and a cloth was wrapped around his eyes so you could only see half of his face. Strong Mad moaned and sat down in the seat next to him. "I'm an idiot; I can't believe I drove him to this!"

Javier pat him on his back. "He was confused man, you didn't cause this." The words sounded forced, even to him. He knew it was true though. "The Cheat was freaking out and retaliated in the only way he could. While he's here though, I'm going to ask Dr. Johnson to talk to him."

Strong Mad gave him a worried look. It was heart breaking to see the large man broken. "Will that make him run off again?"

"I don't think he can in the condition he's in."

Homestar closed his phone he had been talking into quickly. "I called Marzipan; she's on her way too."

He felt a stab of pity for her. "She's not going to handle this well."

Javier was right, when Marzipan came in she gasped. "Oh god." She practically ran over to his side. "What happened?" She demanded, brushing the blonde hair out of the unconscious boy's covered eyes.

Strong Mad couldn't speak so Javier explained. Her eyes grew wide as he told the story, and she looked back at him sadly. "God, what have you done to yourself?"

The doctor came in. "I'm sorry, we're going to have to ask some of you to leave."

His big brother finally spoke. "Strong Bad, Homestar, I want you two to go home. Marzipan and I will sleep here tonight."

Javier would have argued furiously but he was feeling oddly dead. "Okay." He followed Homestar out of the room, watching the floor.

"Are you okay?" Homestar asked, grabbing his hand and squeezing it reassuringly. The feel of the hand was oddly comforting, despite the unusual texture of the skin.

Javier just shook his head and didn't respond.

* * *

Homestar and Strong Bad took turns sleeping on the couch. They waited anxiously for either of their phones to ring with new news on how their friend was doing. It was a good break not to have nightmares, as Homestar would keep his arm wrapped around him while he slept.

His parents, after checking on Strong Mad at the hospital, had retired to their rooms. Strong Sad was in his room, big surprise. He seemed sadder than normal when Homestar told him what had happened, and he wished The Cheat luck getting better. When their phone finally rang they both jumped, scrambling for it.

"Hello?" Javier asked, being the first one to grab it.

"He's awake, come down."

They hurried to the hospital and to The Cheat's room. When they arrived Marzipan was sniffling and holding onto the boy's hand. He seemed pretty numb about it, but made sure to keep hold.

When they opened the door The Cheat tried to look at them, head turning each way. "Who's there?" He asked suspiciously.

"It's me and Homestar." Javier said, walking over to the other side of the bed by his friend.

The Cheat relaxed at that. "I thought you were one of those annoying nurses." He complained.

A smile twitched on his face and he stared at the sheets. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap, what do you expect?" The Cheat had his head turned in his direction even though he couldn't see anything more than shadows through the bandages. "Hey, Strong Bad?" He started off hesitantly.

"Ya?"

"I'm," The boy's voice broke. "I'm sorry I called you that... You know, a fag." He shifted uncomfortable. "You're my friend; I just kind of lost it. I don't mind that you're with Homestar."

Javier smiled softly. "I know, I didn't take it to heart. I had a feeling you didn't really mean it."

The Cheat grinned. "Good, now I don't feel so guilty for being such an ass."

"No, you're still an ass." Javier joked. "I'm just used to it."

They laughed weakly at that. The Cheat didn't see it, but Javier and Strong Mad glanced at each other to see who should tell him. Finally The Cheat brought it up himself. "Guys, why is it that I can't feel some of my fingers?" He whispered. "The doctors haven't told me everything that's happened."

Javier shook his head mournfully. "I'm sure you already guessed you had severe hypothermia. You got frostbite as well, something happened to you your eyes too, but I'm not sure what it was. I think he said your corneas froze?"

"Will I still be able to see?" He asked in a panic.

"Yeah, you will, calm down." Javier spoke soothingly. "But your fingers are the ones that got frostbitten. They may have to perform amputation."

The Cheat looked at him blindly in horror. "They're going to cut off my fingers?" He cried.

He tried to say something before just nodding, even though he couldn't see it. "There's something else. While you're in the hospital we're going to have you talk to Dr. Johnson."

"Dr. Who?"

"Dr. Johnson." He braced himself for the storm. "He was my psychiatrist."

"**What**?!" The Cheat yelled at him. "You're sticking me with a psychiatrist?! What next, the looney bin?"

Javier winced at this but refused to back down. "The Cheat, we can't lose you." His voice cracked. "Man, **god** man, you tried to kill yourself."

The boy quieted at that, face directed towards the sheets. "I didn't try." He murmured. "I just let the cold do it for me."

Strong Mad finally spoke. "Do you know what it'll do to the rest of us if you were to die? How much it will hurt us too?"

The Cheat looked upset at that. "I don't want to hurt you guys. I'm the screwed up person, you shouldn't have to suffer."

"That's why we're having you talk to Dr. Johnson." Javier explained gently.

He looked away from them for a few minutes before turning back. "Can I be by myself for a few minutes, to talk with Marzipan?" The Cheat pleaded. "I need a few minutes to think."

They stood up, leaving the room silently.

* * *

The Cheat waited until he heard the door close. Marzipan held onto his hand like a lifeline and he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Hey, I'm fine, stop worrying."

She sniffled and tried to sound normal. "I'm okay."

He leaned his hand back against the pillow. "Sure you are." He joked. They sat in silence, The Cheat stroking her hand with his thumb and Marzipan's head resting on his chest, listening to his heart beat.

"Why'd you do it?" she whispered.

_The Cheat stumbled, pushing himself to his feet and continuing to walk. The moon was just starting to rise, and it cast a silver light over every leaf and blade of grass. A shiver passed through him, and he wasn't sure whether or not it was from the beauty of the sight, or the cold. It had hurt the first four hours, but he was starting to feel better now. His thin jacket had been abandoned after he had slipped into a puddle. The Cheat was still dripping water in the freezing cold, and it had felt like needles being stabbed into his skin at first._

_He looked away from the scene to watch a family. The little boy and girl ran ahead of the parents, laughing and trying to catch the other. The mom smiled and called for them to follow her. The dad picked up the little girl and swung her through the air, much to the child's laughter. A little off the path the mom started to set a picnic up._

_The Cheat followed out of memory to where they sat eating and talking. As he approached the figures dissipated. He blinked tiredly, his eyes feeling gritty and painful. The little girl was still sitting there though, this time older. She smiled as he approached. "I was wondering when you would get here." She complained._

_He spoke weakly. "Michelle?"_

_His little sister scoffed. "Of course, you do still recognize your sister don't you?"_

_The Cheat had trouble walking but managed to stumble over to sit down next to her. His tongue felt swollen as he talked. "Everyone's been saying you're dead._

_Michelle gave him a weird look. "Why would they think that?"_

"_I…" He paused. "I don't remember."_

"_You need sleep." She shook her head. "Lay down, I'll keep an eye on you."_

_He grinned wearily. "Thanks Michelle."_

"_Hush."_

_Listening to her advice, The Cheat lied down on the snow. He felt warm at this point, body tingling from the core of his heart. A soft smile on his face, he fell asleep, the only one in the park._

"I couldn't think straight." He dismissed, not wanting to think about the incident. It was obvious Marzipan didn't believe him, but she didn't broach the subject anymore.


	20. Chapter 19

**Interruption**

Good heavens I'm tired. Day two of March, my friend managed to convince me to go vegetarian this month, lets see if I survive the first week. Because I got no comments, I'm going to reiterate, the previous comment: Heads up, excluding the Titanic drabble, I'm working on two stories right now just for fun, but I wanted to get your guys opinions. Which should I work on first to put up on FFnet? A version of Dangeresque 3 (which you'll have to forgive me for being a lot off, I can't afford the game D:), or a super-hero's one? As you can tell, I've been disappointed by Heroes lately, so I've been drabbling my own superheroes one, which is okay and fun. Jessie's saying that's the darkest one I've written so far though. So far. I love how she put that. Anyway, put in a vote, I'm choosing by your guys suggestions.

No comments

**Chapter 19**

And all the Earth strove common round --

Without Delight, or Beam --

What Comfort was it Wisdom -- was --

The spoiler of Our Home?

-Emily Dickinson

The Cheat stared at what was left of his hands. They rested on his lap and he attempted to wriggle one of his fingers. After he felt a stab of pain he stopped. He could still feel where his fingers used to be, but the doctor just said that they were a symptom of phantom limbs. The Cheat sighed in disdain. The doctor had said he was lucky to be able to keep four of his fingers and that he didn't lose the rest of them. It had come at the cost of his left ear. He didn't really consider himself lucky though, he had lost the ability to flick the bird on both hands! Now what was he going to do when he finally got a car to drive?

_Frostbite sucks._ The Cheat thought.

He looked up from his bandaged hands as a man walked into his room, closing the door behind him. The man smiled and sat down in one of the guest seats. "I presume you're 'The Cheat'?"

"Depends." The Cheat drawled. "Why do you want to see him?

He laughed. "You're definitely Javier's friend. I'm Dr. Johnson." The psychiatrist was undeterred by The Cheat's glare. "What's your name?"

The Cheat looked away at the words. "What if I don't want to tell you?" He ignored the fact that he couldn't tell anyway.

Dr. Johnson just nodded and wrote something on his notepad. "Okay then Mr. Cheat. Can you tell me what happened?"

He snorted. "I'm sure you have my file, why don't you tell me?"

"Because you need to tell me what happened yourself." Dr. Johnson explained patiently. The Cheat instead crossed his arms and refused to speak, glaring at him out of spite. He was unruffled. "I can wait all day; surprisingly I don't get many patients."

They waited like this for two hours, Dr. Johnson reading a book while The Cheat just stared at a wall. Finally he started speaking. "I was going for a walk."

He shook his head. "Not that, I'm talking about when your sister died."

The Cheat froze and looked at him coldly. "Why do we need to talk about that?"

"Because your friends have informed me that you're in denial about your sister dying." Dr. Johnson explained patiently. "My goal is to help you realize that she's gone. If I don't, you can do this again anytime you want to." The Cheat didn't respond and he spoke again. "Your friends want you to get better, that's my job as well as the doctors. They don't want you hurt again."

The Cheat glared at the ceiling but began to speak.

_He pulled his sweater closer to him and grabbed his sisters hand. "Michelle, don't go too far ahead." The Cheat chastised._

_"Sorry big brother." She murmured. He sighed and she smiled. Michelle knew too well how to pull his heart strings._

_"One day those big puppy eyes are going to get you in trouble." The nine year old warned._

_She laughed. "Yeah, but you'll be around to protect me! You wouldn't let anyone hurt me, would you?"_

_He felt a smile unwillingly coming to his face. "Of course you know that." He ran to catch up with her, them racing down the street towards the ice cream shop. The Cheat didn't have much money, but what he did manage to save, he would use to treat both of them to small delicacies they couldn't afford at home. Usually this was ice cream. Michelle always ordered the ice cream with the most chocolate in it, while The Cheat loved strawberry. After he had gotten back his few dimes in change, they walked back outside. A few of the older folk were murmuring to each other that it was good that a big brother was so good to his little sister._

_Of course, they got into arguments and occasional fights, and she broke into his room too many times to count, but what siblings didn't?_

_After she had finished her cone she ran ahead laughing. Michelle rounded a corner with a giggle and The Cheat followed unhurriedly, just finishing off the last of his treat. When he turned down the street he saw her at the intersection._

_She was looking both ways, like their parents had always told them too. Before he could call to her to wait to cross until he was with her, she started to walk across the pavement. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the lights blinking on the stoplights, but this didn't register in his mind as any sort of theat. He started to jog to catch up to her when the real danger appeared, speeding down the street like a madman._

_It was a large multicolored van that had a large peace sign on the front. It happened so quickly it didn't register in his mind. There was a screech of brakes before it crashed into her. Michelle didn't have time to make a sound, being launched forward a few feet before laying still. The van didn't bother to stop, just driving around the body and continuing to drive down the street, a large red dent on the hood._

_The Cheat stared at where his sister lay, a numb feeling spreading through him as a sort of tingle. One bystander screamed and immediately the scene was swarming with people. He was jostled backwards out of the crowds and he could hear the sounds of ambulances rapidly approaching._

_The Cheat, feeling a stab of panic, cried out for Michelle. The crowd didn't listen, moving around him like a living organism that had swallowed him. Feeling the feral fear, he started to push his way towards the center where the body lay._

_The ambulances had arrived quickly and were already putting the body on a stretcher. The Cheat ran forward through the barricade, grabbing onto one of their pant legs and crying for them to give his sister back. They tried to work around him impatiently, trying to revive her, but she was already gone._

_One woman finally pulled him back kicking and screaming from the scene._

"I don't really remember much after that." The Cheat finished. "My memories just sort of stopped after I saw them put her in the ambulance. It stopped mattering after that point." Dr. Johnson looked at him with a quiet sort of understanding in his eyes that made The Cheat angry, though he wasn't sure why. "Isn't this the time when you're supposed to ask me 'So how does that make you feel?' or some other psychiatrist shit like that? That's the trouble with you people. You think you understand but you don't."

"I'm not saying I understand you at all." He said calmly, throwing The Cheat off guard. "But I will ask you the common question. How **does** that make you feel?"

The Cheat clenched his fingers, ignoring the pain. "Angry. I'm upset at the van owner for not even stopping to make sure she was okay." His voice shook as he struggled. "I mean, who DOES that?"

Dr. Johnson nodded wisely. "How do you feel about your sister after the accident?"

He looked for something to say but shrugged in defeat. "I don't know."

The psychiatrist looked up at the clock. "Well, that's all I'll force you to go through for right now, I'll see you in two days."

"Aren't you supposed to like, give me a week to 'reflect' on what I've remembered." The Cheat muttered. Give him a break from all this psychology shit.

Dr. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "We both know you're not going to stay in the hospital long enough for me to talk to you enough to help if we went a week at a time."

As he left he closed the door behind him, leaving The Cheat in silence to stare at where he had left, the only sound being the screeches and screams that continued to play over and over in his head.

* * *

Javier dropped the backpack next to the hospital cot. "Guess what I have for you?" He practically sang.

The Cheat groaned in response. "Dude, how am I going to get this all DONE?! I only have four fingers, do they realize how hard it is to write?"

He laughed. "Don't ask me, but Ms. Conner said that she wants the math homework done, amputee or not."

The Cheat just continued to groan. "This stinks. Can I get some help?"

Javier scoffed and opened up the books. "Dude, did you really think I was going to not help you? Just tell me what to write."

He smiled wearily. "Thanks man. Can we start with math first?"

"You LIKE math?"

"Yeah," The Cheat said without thinking, already looking at the problems. "It's pretty easy; I don't have any trouble with it. See right here, this is..."

Javier stared in disbelief as The Cheat started speaking math, throwing out numbers and calculations like it was nothing. "You're not just making this up off the top of your head are you?" He asked.

The Cheat looked offended. "Why would I do that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you get D's and F's in all your classes."

He shrugged. "The homework got too boring."

"I'll need to study with you for the next math test." Javier joked, starting to write down what The Cheat had said.

He gave him a weird look. "You really have that much trouble with it?" The Cheat asked in surprise. "I find it kind of fun."

"You're insane!" He claimed.

Dr. Johnson chose that moment to walk in with a smile. "Hi Javier, Mr. Cheat, how are you two doing today?"

The Cheat didn't look that excited to see the man, but Javier grinned. "Pretty good Dr. Man." He stood up and put The Cheat's books back in his bag. "Can I talk to you alone for a second though?"

They left the room and Dr. Johnson turned to him. "Is this about you or Mr. Cheat?"

"I'm selfish." He joked. "It's about me. See," He scuffed his feet against the tile floor. "My big brother is having me stay at my house, and I've been getting nightmares again. When I slept with Homestar I didn't though. Why?"

He nodded. "I think you're a touch person." At Javier's raised brow he explained. "A 'touch person' as I call them like's to have physical contact. There are certain people that can't stand being around others, and people that crave it. You're one of the people that it helps, despite the incident with Senor Cardgage."

"So..." Javier thought about this for a minute. "Like, if I was sleeping with ANYONE I wouldn't have nightmares?"

Dr. Johnson nodded. "Basically. However, if you stay by yourself long enough you'll start to grow out of that touchy needing feeling."

Javier wondered how long it would take for Strong Mad to go back to college. Then again, would it be rude to go back to Homestar's house after Ms. Runner finally got him out of the house? Maybe he could invite Homestar to stay over at his place? "Okay. How's The Cheat doing?"

"Mr. Cheat." He sighed, rubbing his temple. "I have a feeling he's going to be a tough case, there's so many unknown factors. He won't even tell me his name."

"His name is..." Javier trailed off in confusion. What **was** The Cheat's name?

Dr. Johnson gave him a concerned look. "You don't remember? Interesting..." He trailed off, looking at the floor in thought.

"What do you mean?" Javier asked, confused.

Dr. Johnson looked up. "Can you tell me his parent's names?"

He looked at the psychiatrist cautiously. "The Cheat doesn't want me to tell."

"Never mind that." Dr. Johnson said impatiently. "I'm not trying to force him to go home; I want to research his family line."

Javier nodded and gave him the names. After the doctor had scribbled them down Dr. Johnson went into the hospital room. Javier was about to leave, but forced himself to wait five minutes. It sounded relatively calm until he heard the muffled explosion of The Cheat. "What the hell makes you think I don't know my own name?"

He shook his head and left. Homestar was in the waiting room reading a book when he came back. He looked up and smiled. "There you are, how's The Cheat?"

"Okay, I think." He sighed, waiting for Homestar as he gathered his stuff. "Dr. Johnson is worried about him though."

"Aren't we all?" Homestar pointed out dully.

"True." He acknowledged. "He doesn't seem to be feeling too much pain with his hands any more. The doctor said the only thing that would really give him troubles would be the phantom limbs."

Homestar nodded. "It's annoying, but it goes away a bit later. Pretty weird feeling, my right arm felt like it was six inches to short."

Javier shivered. "No offense, but I would hate to be an amputee. It would wig me out."

"Actually, the only bad part is the looks people give you when they see you're an amputee."

Yeah, he knew what that was like, even if it was not exactly the same situation. "I get that from people everyday. I need your smart relative to make me a fake face that looks real, like you arms." He only partially joked, hating himself for it.

Homestar smiled at him. "Strong Bad, you look perfectly fine. What's happened has happened, and take them as a sign you can survive, even in what seems like the worst situations."

"That was the corniest crap I've ever heard."

"I blame movies like The Notebook."

* * *

The Cheat sulked. He hadn't even bothered to turn on the TV, since Dr. Johnson would be here any-

There was a knock and he groaned as the man came in. Something about his smile threw The Cheat off though, and he looked at him curiously. "What do you know?"

Dr. Johnson sat down across from him. "Before I tell you, I need you to admit you don't know your name."

He rolled his eyes. "Not this shit again. I told you for the last time, I know my own name, what idiot wouldn't?" The remark was snappish.

"Even if I told you I could tell you your real name?" Dr. Johnson said coyly.

The Cheat froze at the statement. "What?" His voice sounded dry as he stared at the psychiatrist.

"You're name is James."

The word struck like an anvil to the chest and he could feel his hands shaking. "You're lying." He finally managed to say.

Dr. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "Don't lie to me, I can practically **see** the memories you're seeing right now."

The Cheat twisted away from him with a panicked look. "Get away from me." He snarled.

He refused to move. "James, you need to stop repressing your memories. That's not going to help you at all."

He cried out as he cradled his head, body shaking violently. "**Get away from me**!" This time it sounded more like a plea.

Dr. Johnson stood up. "I'm going to give you some time to calm down."

The Cheat hated him. He hated the way he could act so calm. The rage seemed to boil in every coil of his body and he glared at the man until he had left. Once he was alone he stared at the wall, not sure whether he felt excited or like he wanted to cry. Reaching out to grab a glass of water without looking, he felt it slip through his fingers and crash into the floor. The trickery and pain of the phantom limbs seemed to mock him as he pulled his hand back, staring at the two fingers with a sense of loss.


	21. Chapter 20

**Interruption**

Haha, crappy ending is crappy. Please don't kill me, I'm submitting epilogue (equally crappy) tomorrow to make up for such an abrupt end. You remember when I said I can't even look at this story without feeling nauseous, it's mainly because of this ending. Luckily (excluding Titanic), the stories I'm working on at the moment I've worked hard to try and keep in character, and making sure to have a not so bad ending. I've also got in contact with Musachan, who's betareading my story as well, so that should hopefully help with my characterization. So, this concludes my first Homestar Runner story. And the earth trembled in fright.

A lazy Mu- Yeah, I like how the story focused on The Cheat for a while. And Strong Bad's mask I just assume got hidden somewhere along with the rest of Senor Cardgages... memorials. And you're right, Uzi/SB is the BAM!

**End Interruption**

**Chapter 20**

When I asked the Lord to send a friend,  
Though many came and went.  
He gave much more than I ever asked,  
For you are the friend He sent.

-Unknown

"Give me a fucking break!" The Cheat shouted, glaring at Strong Mad. "I finally get out of that place and you're telling me I have to go back?!"

Strong Mad made sure to take authority. "I'm paying for it, you'll see Dr. Johnson every Wednesday afterschool, even during breaks. Understand?"

He grumbled angrily, but crossed his arms instead of talking. Javier had to admit he looked a lot like a twelve year old right then, but he wouldn't say that aloud. Good way to make The Cheat attack him. "Fine." The Cheat stood up. "I'm going for a walk."

"Did you finish your homework?" The Cheat rolled his eyes at Strong Mad's question but nodded. "Okay. I want you to go with Strong Bad though. Take one of my jackets too; we don't need you freezing to death."

Javier stood up and followed The Cheat to the door. After they were walking the streets The Cheat finally was at liberty to complain. "I swear, he acts like a mother hen!"

"You should see Homestar at two in the morning." He laughed. "The Cheat, you're like his little brother, he's worried about you."

He quieted about that subject but turned around to ask him another question. "Hey Strong Bad, do you know my name?"

"Uh, not really." He shrugged sheepishly. "I'm used to your nickname."

"It's James." The Cheat said this like a new word he had just learned, letting the syllables roll of his tongue. "I don't know, do I seem like a James?"

Javier looked at him critically. "Yeah, I suppose you do."

The Cheat snorted, not believing him. "Okay, sure. Anyway, how's Homestar, don't you two usually go to Marshmallows Last Stand today?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but his mom is gone for most of the day so he has to watch Homsar."

The Cheat kicked a pile of snow. "How is he? Homsar, I mean."

"Meh." Javier shrugged. "I feel sorry for him. The doctors were hoping that his condition would improve, but it hasn't really. He's really bothered by it."

He whistled. "That really stinks. He seems like a good guy, once you get past the whole speech problem and the fact he's a freshman."

"Ugh, I'm glad those days are over."

They laughed at the liberating freedom of being able to claim they were on their last year of school. At this realization they started grabbing snow and making snowballs, running for cover and throwing the missiles at each other as they did. The Cheat, being smaller, was able to retreat behind a large log of a tree that had fallen ages ago in the park. Javier managed to find a large boulder and set to work building a large pile of ammo.

As he was patting the last snowball he got a tap on his shoulder. Spinning around, he was about to launch the snowball at the person he stopped. Homestar had his hands up in surrender; Homsar was next to him building snowballs as well. "Need help?" He asked coyly. Javier just grinned evilly.

* * *

The Cheat peeked over the stump curiously as the fire of snowballs ceased. He couldn't see Strong Bad, but he could guess where he was hiding. The boulder was the only thing large enough besides trees for him to hide behind. Strong Bad really wasn't really that creative.

Grabbing a couple of snowballs, he made a dash, getting ready to throw them. When he rounded around the corner though, Strong Bad wasn't there. The Cheat stood there in confusion for a second before he was pelted with snowballs from three different directions. He could hear Homestar's and Strong Bad's laughter, so he took a wild guess who was attacking. "Ambush!" He shouted, making a lunge for cover behind a large tree.

When the snowballs stopped again he peeked around. "I give!" He called. "I can't take on three of you. I propose Strong Bad is on my side."

When there was no response he knew he had let his guard down too quickly. Strong Bad jumped from the shadows behind him and grabbed him in a head lock. They wrestled to the ground while laughing while Homestar and Homsar ran over. Finally they broke apart and the teams stared at each other before bursting out in gales of laughter. "The Cheat, you look like a snowman!" Strong Bad managed to gasp out.

"You guys win most definitely, this round anyway." The Cheat suddenly grinned with a secret knowledge. Jumping up, he used his fingers to whistle before ducking for cover. There was a war cry and two more streams of snowballs started hitting the three man team. It was now evenly matched, The Cheat, Marzipan, and Strong Mad, against Strong Bad, Homestar, and Homsar.

"Turning against family! Traitor!" Strong Bad shouted, ducking for cover. Strong Mad just laughed, glad he had decided to follow them to make sure they were all right. The older man hadn't been able to have a snowball fight since he was a kid, and this was just what he needed.

The Cheat turned around the bend of the tree and ran into Marzipan, sending them falling into the snow with an 'oof'. The Cheat pushed himself up and off her and helped her up. "I didn't think we would meet like this again so soon." He joked. "And I'm not even bleeding this time."

"Try to keep it like that." The corner of Marzipan's smile twitched upward. She gave him a peck on the cheek before turning around to scan for the enemy team. "Come on, let's go check it out." They grabbed each others hands and made a race for the other side. The two fingers that were left on his hand that he held with Marzipan felt warm through the glove, and she didn't even wince at the feeling of his deformed hand. The Cheat smiled contently. Who knew, maybe he could get therapy without losing **all** of his sanity.

* * *

Three people sat contently in a café nearby, talking and laughing. The musky scent of the coffee permeated through the room along with the smell of deli sandwiches. Strong Bad sipped on his cup of hot chocolate, trying to warm up. "How long do you think it'll take them to realize that we've left?"

Homestar also sipped on his drink. "About an hour, give or take." Homsar just breathed into his hands to try and warm them.

"I might need to stay at your house again." He joked.

"I have no problem with that."


	22. Epilogue

**Interruption**

So this FINALLY concludes this. I'm glad, I don't think I can look at this more without feeling sick. When I start the Dangeresque story, hopefully next week, the updates won't be very rythmetic. There may be days or weeks between each update. I like how the first chapter has come out though, so I'm looking forward to getting all of your opinions on it!

I do not, and never did, own Homestar Runner or any of the associated characters.

**Epilogue**

**_GOOD GOD BADLY WRITTEN PORN SHIELD YOUR EYES_**

"We're married." Javier breathed this in disbelief as they entered the hotel room, garbed in a nice black suit.

Homestar shook his head as well. "I can't believe it either." Once the door was closed they looked at each other silently. Javier made the first move, grabbing the others shoulder and pulling him down so their lips collided. His other hand rested along the small of his back and traced circles with its fingers. Homestar shivered and they broke off after a minute. "Just like our first kiss." He breathed. "Only with slightly more back pains for me."

Javier snorted and guided him to the bed, hands starting to roam his body, discarding clothes, and lips exploring each other. "Let me help you with that." He smirked and Homestar let out an 'eep' as he was pushed gently onto the top of the sheets, giving Javier a chance to crawl onto him to straddle his chest while he was stunned.

Javier smirked and licked the shell of Homestar's ear, nibbling slightly on the top as he listened to the other mans gasps. "Did I ever mention how cute you are?" He chuckled in a raspy voice before biting sharply on the bottom part of the earlobe. Homestar yelped but relaxed again as Javier started to trail a path of bites to his jaw and down his chest while sliding down. Once he reached the pants he smirked and grabbed the zipper with his teeth, pulling it down torturously slow.

"W-Where?" He tried to gasp out the question.

"I've been around the block a few times before we got together, I learned a couple of tricks." Of course, this was his first time with a guy, willingly, but he had already learned what he was supposed to do to make it enjoyable for the both of them. The Internet was a wonderful tool. He teased the straining member in the boxers with his fingers before actually pulling them down. The erection stood proudly nestled among the soft hairs and Javier felt a moment of uncertainty. What if this wasn't right, should he really be with Homestar? What if he just wanted to feel this way and he wasn't really into guys? The strangled groan quickly terminated any more doubts and he licked from the base to the tip before completely deep throating him.

Homestar practically screamed and his hands clenched in the bed sheets, head thrown back and hips straining not to thrust upwards into the warm velvet.

He had to focus at first not to choke, but he quickly got the hang of it, bobbing his head up and down. When he pulled away he grabbed Homestar and kissed him, the salty taste shared between them. Grabbing the bottle that had been placed conveniently on the bed stand; he nestled between his, now husbands, legs. "This might hurt at first." Javier warned, giving him a chance to back out. The other just nodded, eyes watching in an almost disbelief at what he was seeing.

Making sure his fingers were coated liberally, he pushed the first one in. The walls gave in with only a little resistance. He added a second one, and by the third one he started stretching slowly, trying to keep from hurting him. Homestar was making sure to relax his muscles, but he tensed and thrust up with a gasp as Javier found what he was looking for.

Huh, so it wasn't a myth created by fan girls, he really did have a hot spot. After hitting that spot a few more times to remember where it was, he pulled his fingers out and after rolling on a condom, started coating his own member. By now he was aching. "Are you ready?" Javier asked. Homestar just groaned again. "Move it will you?"

Not wanting to deny the request, Javier pushed in with a strangled moan. He paused and went slowly, giving time for the other to adjust. After he was fully in and the other man adjusted, he pulled out and thrust in again harshly, aiming for the spot from earlier. Homestar's back arched off the bed as he clawed at the sheets, a mix of gibberish and garble the only speech he could manage.

Slowly he started to move faster and soon they rocked together, not enough time between thrusts for Homestar to scream. His hand started to drift down to his own member and Javier smacked it away with a feral smirk. Instead he had Homestar wrap his legs around him to free a hand, using it to bring the other to climax. Homestar screamed as he came, walls tightening around Javier and making him finish as well.

They collapsed breathless onto the mattress, tangled in the sheets. Javier wiped the sticky release off with some tissues for the now sleepy Homestar, throwing them into the trashcan about a foot away. Once he was done Homestar turned over and curled into Javier, burying his face in the others chest and smiling tiredly. "I love you Javier." He murmured, using Javier's real name.

He smiled at this and pulled the blankets up over them, wrapping Homestar in his arms and kissing him softly on the head. "Yeah, I love you too."

**_Okay, eyes are safe again._**

* * *

The Cheat raced at full speed down the streets, not enough common sense to take a car. His arms were pumping at his sides and his jacket had been abandoned and forgotten. Skidding around the corner, he jumped up the doorstep stairs and knocked frantically and loudly.

There was a crash from inside and an irritated shout. "Shit, I'm coming." There was a snicker and the voice spoke again. "Haha Homestar, very mature." Strong Bad opened the door and blinked at The Cheat, clothes and hair ruffled.

"Premature!" He exclaimed.

Strong Bad looked at him tiredly. "The Cheat, at the moment you're keeping me from getting laid, and I'm very disgruntled about that, what the hell are you talking about?"

The Cheat was jumping in place now. "She's having the baby, she's having the baby! Now!"

This finally got some reaction and Strong Bad blinked. "Really? Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

He paused. "Uh." The Cheat stood there for a moment. "You know, that's a good question."

Homestar appeared behind Strong Bad, clothes thrown on as haphazardly as the other. "Did you run here?" He asked, confused.

Strong Bad sighed at the nod and rubbed his temple. "You're both idiots. Get in my car, I'll drive us there."

The Cheat was bouncing up and down again with an excited grin. "I call shotgun!" Homestar sat behind The Cheat while Strong Bad drove, talking excitedly with The Cheat about Marzipan and him. When they arrived The Cheat jumped out of the car and raced inside, Homestar and Strong Bad following. He made sure to duck when he came to the hospital doors. About two years ago he started having his growth spurts, the ones he should have had in high school. He had actually gotten taller than Homestar, growing to an amazing six foot eight. Strong Bad was still disgruntled about that, now being the shortest out of the three of them.

They hurried as fast as they could to the waiting room for the husbands when they wanted to hide from the wrath of the laboring demons called their wives. A nurse was looking around confused when they walked in. "Are you Mr. Cheet?" She asked, and he nodded excitedly. "Follow me," Strong Bad and Homestar waved him off and waited in the room.

When The Cheat had entered the room he was nearly bursting with pride. Marzipan lay in the hospital cot holding the child in her arms, a weary smile on her face. When he got closer he saw the child was sleeping. "Boy or-?"

"Girl." Marzipan stated proudly.

"God she's beautiful." The Cheat whispered, wrapping his arm around his wife.

She had to hide her laughter, knowing later he would be strutting with his chest puffed out and showing off his daughter. "What should we name her?"

He thought for a moment. "We probably should have thought of this earlier." The Cheat admitted, watching the child. "What do you think of Michelle?"

"I think that would be lovely." Marzipan smiled and The Cheat kissed her cheek, resting his forehead against hers as they gazed with loving eyes at the start of their new family.


End file.
